Man stabs two in London and is shot to death

LONDON – A man recently released from prison after serving time for terrorism-related offenses strapped on a fake bomb and stabbed two people on a busy London street Sunday before being shot to death by police, officials said.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi said police identified the attacker as 20-year-old Sudesh Amman. He had been convicted for publishing graphic terrorist videos online and had stockpiled instructions on bomb making and knife attacks, according to police.

Officers had been trailing Amman at the time of Sunday’s attack, D’Orsi said, but were unable to head off the bloodshed in the commercial and residential south London neighborhood of Streatham, where Amman struck outside a major pharmacy on a busy shopping afternoon.

“The suspect had been recently released from prison where he had been serving a sentence for Islamist-related terrorism offences,” D’Orsi said of Sunday’s attacker.

It seems likely the victims will survive Sunday’s attack. D’Orsi said a stabbing victim in his 40s thought to be in life-threatening condition has improved. She said the victim is no longer in danger and that a woman who had been hospitalized has been released.

One other female victim is still in the hospital with lesser injuries police believe were caused by flying glass after the attacker was shot dead.

D’Orsi said the incident started at 2 p.m. “Armed officers, who were part of a proactive counterterrorism operation and were following the suspect on foot, were in immediate attendance and shot a male suspect dead at the scene,” she said.

She said police saw a device strapped to the attacker’s body and called in specialist officers who quickly determined the purported explosive device was a hoax.

Al-Qaida claims deadly Florida naval base shooting

CAIRO – Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for last year’s deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola by an aviation student from Saudi Arabia.

The shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was a member of the Saudi Air Force in training at the base. He opened fire inside a classroom at the base on Dec. 6, killing three people and wounding two sheriff’s deputies before one of the deputies killed him. Eight others were also hurt.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, released a video claiming the attack. SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks messaging by militant groups, reported the claim.

The 18-minute video did not provide evidence of training the shooter, but it did indicate that Alshamrani and AQAP were in communication, said Rita Katz, director of SITE. It was not clear when the video was recorded.

The video claimed that Alshamrani had been planning for years to attack a U.S. base and had been training and “selecting” targets.

The video, which was viewed by the Associated Press, provided a will written by Alshamrani to his family in September 2019, three months prior to the attack. He said he wanted to attack the U.S., citing religious reasons. However, he made no mention of al-Qaida.

The video included audio from top AQAP leader Qassim al-Rimi claiming “full responsibility” for the attack by Alshamrani, calling him “the hero, the courageous knight.”

Eritrea expresses ‘dismay’ at new US visa restrictions

JOHANNESBURG – The East African nation of Eritrea on Sunday expressed “dismay at this unfriendly act” after the Trump administration included it in the latest six countries to face U.S. visa restrictions.

Eritrea’s information ministry asserted the U.S. decision was made “without justification to send a negative signal” and runs counter to U.S. policy of constructive engagement.

The Trump administration on Friday announced various visa restrictions on immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania as well. It is not a total travel ban, unlike President Donald Trump’s earlier effort that generated outrage around the world for targeting Muslims.

Some in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, have expressed outrage, while the government issued a brief statement saying it would study the U.S. requirements.

The restrictions go into effect Feb. 21.

Eritrea, one of the world’s most closed-off nations, is a significant source of migrants headed to Europe and elsewhere as thousands flee what they and human rights groups call a harsh system of forced national service. There has been no sign of that system easing since Eritrea made peace with neighboring Ethiopia in 2018, removing the major reason for the system’s existence.

Eritrea, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar will have all immigrant visas suspended; those are applicants seeking to live in the U.S. permanently. They include visas for people sponsored by family members or employers as well as the diversity visa program that made up to 55,000 U.S. visas available in the most recent lottery.

Not affected are non-immigrant visas awarded to those traveling to the U.S. for a temporary stay. They include visas for tourists, those doing business or people seeking medical treatment.