ISIS claims London Bridge attack, says PoK-linked terrorist was one of its fighters

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the London Bridge terror attack in which two people were killed, saying the UK-born attacker, who wanted to set up a terrorist training camp in the garb of a madrassa in his ancestral region of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was one of its fighters.

The group claimed the responsibility for Usman Khan's knife rampage on the streets of London on Friday, which killed two and injured three people, via its Amaq news agency in a post on Saturday that was published on the TamTam and Telegram app.

"The person who carried out the London attack... was a fighter from the Islamic State, and did so in response to calls to target citizens of coalition countries," the ISIS statement read.

The news emerged as former schoolmates of the 28-year-old terrorist, who was shot dead by armed police officers, revealed he had been seen preaching under the ISIS flag as a young teenager after he dropped out of school in Stoke-on-Trent in central England where his family settled many years ago after moving from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

"It is vital that the empty ideology of terror is rejected by all of us and that communities come together side-by-side to ensure that those seeking to divide us will never succeed," said Scotland Yard's Head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu.

"As a precaution, we have enhanced police patrols across London of both armed and unarmed officers. The public can expect to see an increased police presence throughout the weekend as colleagues from the Metropolitan, City of London and British Transport police carry out those patrols," he said.

The profile pieced together of Khan on the basis of his conviction on terrorism offences reveals a "serious jihadi" who was the youngest in a nine-member group of Islamist radicals jailed in 2012 for planning to bomb the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and the US Embassy as well as target VIPs such as Boris Johnson, then the Mayor of London.

The court documents seen by 'The Sunday Times' reveal that the authorities were much more concerned about the sophistication displayed by Khan and others from his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent, who were planning to set up a terrorist training facility "under the cover of a madrassa" on land owned by his family in PoK.

When he sentenced Khan in 2012, Justice Alan Wilkie had said that the future London Bridge attacker was on a "more long-term and sustained path" and would try to recruit and train "more serious and effective terrorists" to wreak mayhem.

"In my judgment, these offenders would remain, even after a lengthy term of imprisonment, of such a significant risk that the public could not be adequately protected by their being managed on licence in the community," he said,