Specter of terrorism strikes Britain again following Brexit

British police announced on Sunday, February 2 that they had shot and killed a man in Streatham, south London, after he stabbed several people in a terrorism-related incident.

Police stated on Twitter that many people had been stabbed and that they are investigating the circumstances behind the attack, which they consider to be linked to terrorism. They also requested that people avoid the area.

First post-Brexit attack

This attack came less than 48 hours after Britain officially left the European Union on January 31, which some observers have warned will remain one of the problems affecting England's anti-terrorism policy, especially as this means its police have lost access to data from the Schengen Information System and the records of passenger names.

This incident is also the first in 2020, as the last attack occurred on November 29, 2019, when two people were killed and three others injured in an attack by a man with a knife against a group of passers-by near the London Bridge. He was also killed by police, and ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.

While London Mayor Sadiq Khan had stressed at the time that "we will not allow terrorism to threaten our city or our unity," the man been this recent operation carried out on Sunday is being considered a terrorist by police.

ISIS probability

It is highly unlikely that ISIS was behind this attack. After the London Bridge attack, the British Daily Mail newspaper reported that the perpetrator, Usman Khan, may have been acting in revenge for the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He had previously been convicted of planning the London Stock Exchange bombing in 2012 and he was known to the security chiefs.

At the time of Khan's arrest in 2012 with nine other people, the police found a handwritten list of targets that included the US embassy and ​​the homes of then London Mayor Boris Johnson, the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral and two rabbis.

When Judge Alan Wilkie sentenced Khan in 2012, he said, "It was envisaged by them all that ultimately they, and the other recruits, may return to the UK as trained and experienced terrorists available to perform terrorist attacks in this country."

Potential threat

In November 2019, Britain reduced its terrorism threat level to “substantial” rather than “severe”, in a step it had not taken for five years. According to the Home Office, the threat is still high and there is a possibility of an attack without warning. It added that a severe threat means an attack is highly possible, but when the level is substantial, then the occurrence of an attack is only possible.