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LONDON Bridge attacker identified: Police say it was a terror attack: British Police is applauded

Sukumar Roy quoting various sources say that the British Police have identified the London Bridge attacker as Usman Khan, 28. He was previously jailed in a terror related offence. Aljazeera says British police have shot dead a man who had strapped a fake bomb to his body and stabbed several people, including two fatally saying it was a   “terrorism incident”. “A male suspect was shot by specialist armed officers from the City of London police and I can confirm that this suspect died at the scene,” the United Kingdom’s top counterterrorism officer, Neil Basu, told reporters on Friday. Metropolitan Police chief Cressida Dick said “tragically” two members of the public have lost lives. Usman Khan   had been living in Stafford since being released from prison on licence last December, the BBC reports. In 2012, he was sentenced to indeterminate detention for “public protection” with a minimum jail term of eight years. This sentence would have allowed him to be kept in prison beyond the minimum term. But in 2013 the Court of Appeal quashed the sentence replacing it with a 16-year-fixed term of which Khan should serve half in prison. At the time, Lord Justice Leveson said: “There is an argument for concluding that anyone convicted of such an offence should be incentivised to demonstrate that he can safely be released; such a decision is then better left to the Parole Board for consideration proximate in time to the date when release becomes possible.” Meanwhile scores of senior political figures have condemned the act of terrorism 13 days ahead of general election in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was being kept abreast of the situation and expressed his gratitude for the work of the emergency services. Incidentally, in June 2017, there was a terrorist attack on the 290- year- old iconic London Bridge when a van was deliberately driven into pedestrians before the attackers went on a stabbing spree in nearby pubs and restaurants. The assailants were shot dead and were also found to be wearing fake explosive vests. Eight people ultimately died and 48 others were injured in the attacks on the bridge and in the nearby busy Borough Market area.(picture courtesy to BBC)

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