The Metropolitan police on Monday (June 6) identified two of the three knife-wielding terrorists, who were shot dead in the London Bridge terror attack on Saturday, as Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane.
London twin terror attacks: ISIS claims responsibility for rampage on London Bridge, Borough Market
Both Butt (27) and Redouane (30) who used to live in Barking in east London were shot dead within eight minutes of the first call to police. However, their formal identifications are still pending. The police have not yet been able to identify the third man.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the twin terror attacks that were carried out by these three men wearing fake suicide vests.
Khuram Shazad Butt
Khuram Shazad Butt was a Pakistan-born British citizen. He was the ringleader of the terrorists who ploughed into the pedestrians using a hired white van and stabbed several revellers in pubs leaving seven dead and 48 injured.
Butt was known to the police and MI5. However they also said, "there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritised accordingly."
According to the Telegraph UK, Butt had reportedly arrived in the UK from Pakistan as a child refugee. His father used to work at a fruit and vegetable stall in east London, but died in 2003.
Butt is a father of two and had previously worked in KFC and in the customer service for the London Underground as a trainee. He was unemployed since October 2016. Butt had refused to socialise with women and was banned from a local mosque. He and his son used to go to an all-male local swimming pool on Sundays but would often create ruckus in the pool.
Last year, he had appeared in a television documentary called Jihadis Next Door, where he was shown unfurling a jihadi flag before praying in a London park.
Rachid Redouane
Redouane, who also goes by the name Rachid Elkhdar is claimed to be a Moroccan and Libyan. A Moroccan chef by profession, Redouane had visisted his wife Charisse O'Leary and his 18-month-old daughter three hours before unleashing terror at the London Bridge and Borough Market. He was not known to the police authorities.
Meanwhile, more than 130 imams and Muslim religious leaders have refused to say funeral prayers for the perpetrators. According to The Guardian, an Imam said, "We will not perform the traditional Islamic funeral prayer over the perpetrators and we also urge fellow imams and religious authorities to withdraw such a privilege."
"This is because such indefensible actions are completely at odds with the lofty teachings of Islam," added the disgusted Imam.
