‘Interest in jihad, no IS link’

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LONDON, March 28, (Agencies): Police have found no evidence that the man who killed four people in London last week was associated with the Islamic State group or al-Qaeda, a senior British counterterrorism officer said Monday.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu of the Metropolitan Police said Westminster attacker Khalid Masood clearly had “an interest in jihad,” but police have no indication he discussed his attack plans with others. Basu, who also serves as Britain’s senior national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, said Wednesday’s attack — in which Masood ran down pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a policeman guarding Parliament — “appears to be based on low-sophistication, low-tech, low-cost techniques copied from other attacks.” Masood was shot dead by police after his deadly rampage, which police have revealed lasted just 82 seconds.

Police believe Masood — a 52-yearold Briton with convictions for violence who had spent several years in Saudi Arabia — acted alone, but are trying to determine whether others helped inspire or direct his actions. Detectives on Monday continued to question a 30-year-old man arrested Sunday and a 58-year-old man arrested shortly aft er Wednesday’s attack. Both were detained in the central England city of Birmingham, where Masood had recently lived.

Prime Minister Th eresa May said last week that Masood was “a peripheral figure” in an investigation into violent extremism some years ago. But Basu said he was not a “subject of interest” for counterterrorism police or the intelligence services before last week’s attack. Masood was born Adrian Elms, but changed his name in 2005, suggesting a conversion to Islam. His mother, Janet Ajao, said Monday she was “deeply shocked, saddened and numbed” by his murderous actions. In a statement released through the police, Ajao said that “since discovering that it was my son that was responsible I have shed many tears for the people caught up in this horrendous incident.”

Radicalized
Basu said there was no sign Masood was radicalized during one of his stints in prison, the last of which was in 2003. “I know when, where and how Masood committed his atrocities, but now I need to know why,” Basu said. “Most importantly, so do the victims and families.”

As Basu appealed for anyone who spoke to Masood on the day of the attack to come forward, the British government repeated calls for tech companies to give police and intelligence services access to encrypted messages exchanged by terrorism suspects. Masood used the messaging service WhatsApp just before he began his attack.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Sunday that such services must not “provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other.” Meanwhile, police erected new barriers around Queen Elizabeth’s Windsor Castle home on Tuesday to boost protection a week aft er a man killed four people in an attack around parliament in central London.

Th e additional measures followed a review of security at Windsor, the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world located about 20 miles (32 kms) to the west of the British capital, police said.Th e new barriers were put in place ahead of the regular “Changing the Guard” ceremony on Wednesday which sees soldiers in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats parade with an army band through the town of Windsor before heading into the castle.

The ceremony is hugely popular with tourists with more than 1.3 million people visiting the castle every year. Police said the new barriers in Windsor would be in addition to usual road closures. “While there is no intelligence to indicate a specific threat to Windsor, recent events in Westminster clearly highlight the need for extra security measures to be introduced,” said Assistant Chief Constable Dave Hardcastle of Th ames Valley Police. “Th e force believes that it is proportionate and necessary to put in place extra security measures to further protect and support the public and the Guard Change.”

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