Reading stabbings: Forbury Gardens attack was terror incident – suspect is Libyan asylum seeker

The stabbings in Reading, where three people were killed in a park, are being treated as a terrorist attack, police have confirmed.

A 25-year-old man, believed to be Libyan Khairi Saadallah who was living in the Berkshire town, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

He was detained at the scene and is in custody, said officers.

Saadallah is a refugee who is understood to have been granted asylum in the UK.

The full background of Saadallah has still to be revealed, but early indications are that he did come to the attention of security services last year.

He was briefly assessed and deemed to be low risk and no formal investigation was launched.

Head of UK counter terror police Neil Basu said a suspect “ran into Forbury Gardens and attacked members of the public with a knife” yesterday evening.

Within five minutes of the first call being made to police at 6.56pm, “officers had apprehended a man and made an arrest”, Thames Valley Police chief constable John Campbell said.

He described the scene as “very distressing” and “pretty horrific” for officers and members of the public who saw what happened.

Three people are confirmed to have died and another three were taken to hospital with serious injuries after the attack, which was described as “completely random” by a witness. One was discharged today and the other two are still being treated.

The motivation for the “horrific act” is not yet clear, Met Police Assistant Commissioner Basu said, but “there is nothing to suggest that there was anyone else involved in this attack”.

Forty-one witnesses have so far come forward and police are asking anyone else who may have information to get in touch.

The public have been urged to “continue with their daily lives”, as there is “no specific intelligence people attending crowded places are at risk”.

Police stressed the stabbings “were not associated in any way” with the Black Lives Matter protests that took place “peacefully” in the park earlier in the day.

Assistant Commissioner Basu also urged people not to share graphic video of the aftermath of the attack, which was posted on social media last night showing at least two bloodied people being given CPR.

Police are working with the coroner to formally identify the victims, he added.

On Saturday a witness told of how he saw a man walk up to a group of about 10 people and stab some of them in the neck and under the arms.

Another witness, Amir Haydyoon, said he saw police officers “rugby tackle a guy on the ground”.

He told Sky News: “He wasn’t blinking at all – he was just staring. He wasn’t resisting even though there were four or five officers on top of him.”

Late last night, police carried out an armed operation at the block of flats where he was living in Basingstoke Road.

Neighbours heard a “controlled explosion” take place at the property before he was detained.

Today there is still a strong police presence in Reading town centre, as well as outside the top-floor flat.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already held a meeting about the incident with security officials, police and senior ministers, Downing Street said.

He said he was “appalled and sickened that people should lose their lives in this way”, adding that his thoughts were with the victims’ families and friends.

The PM said that “lessons will be learned” from the attack and that the government “will not hesitate to take action where necessary”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer praised the “heroism” of the police and NHS responders and said laws could be changed to better deal with similar situations in the future.

Sky News’ home affairs correspondent Mark White said police are working to establish if there is still “any threat to the wider public”.

He said: “They’ve said so far that they don’t believe there is an immediate risk to anyone else, certainly in the Reading area.

“But as always, they want to know whether there are people out there who had knowledge of what the suspect may have been planning, or whether they were, in some way, involved themselves.”

In November last year the UK terror threat level was reduced to “substantial”.

He added: “There is no indication that there are any previous terror offences – that does not mean that he wasn’t on the terrorism radar

“These incidents rarely happen in isolation – you will often find that anyone who moves to violent extremism is on a bit of a journey and they become increasingly radical in their view to the extent that they cross the radar of security services several times.”

(c) Sky News 2020: Reading stabbings: Forbury Gardens attack was terror incident – suspect is Libyan asylum seeker