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BRITISH POLICE ADMITTED today they may never know the motive behind this week’s terror attack on parliament, after releasing all but one of 11 people held over the assault.
They have named 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood as the man who killed four people in Westminster on Wednesday, but issued a fresh plea for any information that might explain why he did it.
“We must all accept that there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this. That understanding may have died with him,” said senior counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu.
A new breakdown of the attack revealed that Masood, a Muslim convert with a violent criminal past, took just 82 seconds to wreak havoc.
His car mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge before driving along the road and footpath and crashing into the fence of the Houses of Parliament.
Masood left the vehicle and was shot by police, but not before fatally stabbing an unarmed policeman, Keith Palmer, who was guarding a gate.
“Our investigation continues at pace. I am grateful for the public support so far, but I am asking for more help,” Basu said in a statement.
We still believe that Masood acted alone on the day and there is no information or intelligence to suggest there are further attacks planned.
“Even if he acted alone in the preparation, we need to establish with absolute clarity why he did these unspeakable acts to bring reassurance to Londoners, and to provide answers and closure for the families of those killed and the victims and survivors of this atrocity.”
A total of 11 people were held on suspicion of preparation of terrorist attacks in the wake of the attack.
But only a 58-year-old man arrested in Birmingham, the central English city where Masood last lived, remained in custody late yesterday.
One of the ten others who were released, a 32-year-old woman, is on bail – the others have all been freed with no further action.
‘Heartbroken’ hero MP
The Islamic State group claimed that one of its “soldiers” carried out the attack, the worst in Britain since the July 2005 bombings which left 52 people dead.
But police are still trying to establish Masood’s motivation.
“We are determined to understand if Masood was a lone actor inspired by terrorist propaganda or if others have encouraged, supported or directed him,” Basu said.
In one of the most dramatic scenes of the attack, Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood was photographed desperately trying to resuscitate the stabbed policeman.
Ellwood, a former military officer who lost his brother in the 2002 Bali bombings, spoke out for the first time late Saturday, saying he was “heartbroken” he could not save Palmer’s life.
Ellwood has been hailed as a hero for his actions, but he said: “I played only a small part that day, doing what I was taught to do.”
Palmer’s family said they were “overwhelmed by the love and support for our family, and most especially, the outpouring of love and respect for our Keith”.
To those who tried to save him, they added: “There was nothing more you could have done. You did your best and we are just grateful he was not alone.”
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He was a criminal influenced by religion that to him justified his desire to hurt people. Simple.
@Eye_c_u: actually, not sure we can even say that. We don’t even know if he was linked with ISIS or that he was religiously motivated at all or ‘radicalised’. This could equally have been the actions of a single man in a moment of madness, choosing to copycat terrorist’s methods. I would take with a large pinch of salt ISIS describing him as being inspired by them, without collaborating evidence. It suits their propaganda campaign to associate themselves with this barbarity.
He was no more a member if isis then I am of the kgb. Convenient for them to adopt him after the fact though. End of the day there are murders in Europe all the time of innocent people. Take a look at this list of killing sprees in Europe and you will see white people going on rampage and killing themselves in process. I believe the term is criminally insane. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers_(Europe)
@Eye_c_u: The link with ISIS the reading of the Koran.
Understand. We all understand exactly why he did this. I think they mean they can’t find a PC explanation to offer. But you can’t explain extremism in a PC language, sometime tabloid language says it all.
True but media should do away with the incorrect terrorist label for incidents like this. What about travellers who break in and beat up or intimidate old people is this not terror? Are they not terrorists. This incident in London should be labeled as it actually is. Rampage killer goes on the loose.
@Eye_c_u: your whataboutery says it all, any excuse to to distance the culprit of this attack from the real and obvious motive, which is a twisted belief in martyrdom in order to enjoy the promise of the virgins. All this PC questioning for a motive is bulls#it. The common denominator in all of these type of attacks is as I pointed out a twisted belief in martyrdom, which is gained from the pages of a certain book. If the religion of peace wants to live up to it’s name, then the most influential Islamic scholars need to speak out and condemn these killings and this 7th century twisted belief in martyrdom,
@Shane Bradley: Isis seem more honest than the British government!!!
“there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this” ….??
“Masood, a Muslim convert with a violent criminal past”….. duh…!!
@Charles Martel: was it something he read ?. Quran Sura (9:5) And when the forbidden months have passed, kill the idolaters wherever you find them and take them prisoners, and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, then leave their way free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.
We know why he did it. He lived a life of haram and the only way to gurantee himself a place in paradise is to die a martyr. Killing and being killed in the name of islam is the greatest of deeds according to Muhammad.
Really? They have no idea why he did this when similar attacks are happening across Europe? All by muslim fanatics? All eventually claimed by ISIS? We have become so PC that we literally can no longer call a spade spade.
There’s a strong opinion that this man was emboldened by the strong support for fundamentalist Islamic groups coming from quarters such as Amnesty International and the Alt left allied with their championing in the liberal press.
Not surprising really.
@Tommy:
There is no evidence to support your claim.
A violent maniac converts to Islam, then commits terror attack. What’s there not to know
He was a low life s##m and good reddens..
The cops need to look into his activities when teaching in Saudi Arabia years ago
Pyscho nutter .
Some are violent before or in the absence of religious conversion.
Some become violent partly as a result of religious conversion.
@Tony Daly: Supremacist Cults and would be religions are often populated by a mixture of idealistic dependants, egomaniac manipulators and lost souls.
@Tom Molloy: I agree.
I suspect that Masood was a homicidal individual, violent by nature, for whom religion was a convenient excuse to kill people just for the sake of killing people.
He got his motive from the Koran.
LOL PMSL!
PMSL LOL! Where’s my meds? Allah PMSL!
Incontinence nappy
really gets the noggin jogging..
I think his motive was pretty clear that is to kill non muslims!
You’d have to go from Me cca to Med ina to find perhaps a moral blessing and encouragement that would appeal to violent and destructive natures and impulses in such individuals as naturally have them anyway.
have your say