A terrorist recently released from prison has been shot dead by undercover police in Streatham, south London, after stealing a kitchen knife from a shop and stabbing three people, one of whom one is in a critical condition. Sudesh Amman, jailed for distributing terrorist materials two years ago, was wearing a fake suicide vest when he was shot by the undercover officers who had been following him. There are reports that Amman, 20, kept a notebook where he wrote of his ambition to “die as a shuhada [martyr]”: he seems to have struck days after his early released. He had served half of his three-year sentence.
Gunshots were heard on Streatham High Road at around 2pm, which was then cordoned off. Plain-clothes policemen were soon on the scene, some armed. An eyewitness has been quoted as saying that he “saw a man with a machete and silver canisters on his chest being chased by what I assume was an undercover police officer. The man was then shot. I heard three gunshots.” It later emerged that he stole a 10-inch kitcken knife then ran out of the shop to begin his attack and was apprehended shortly afterwards.
Another, Nardos Mulugeta, told PA:
“I heard a shot and then there was a 20-second gap. Then there were three or four shots together. I went over and I saw the first victim, a male victim on the ground, near the White Lion Pub, and people were helping him. Then five minutes later a woman came over and said I’ve been stabbed too in the back. And then people starting helping her. I saw one body laying down further away. He was face down between Argos and Iceland. It’s really scary.”
The Prime Minister has said he will tomorrow announce “fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences”
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