Terror Attack In Reading Kills Three

Khairi Saadallah, a 25-year-old Libyan national went on a knife rampage in Reading, England on Saturday.

Footage of the aftermath of the attack circulated online. It showed a number of victims lying in pools of blood in Forbury Gardens, which had hosted a Black Lives Matter demonstration earlier in the day.

Three people including James Furlong are confirmed dead. Furlong was head of history at Holt School in Wokingham. Three others were injured in the attack. Two of the injured people have been discharged and one remains in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

According to Greg Wilton who said he was having a picnic in the park with his wife and friends when the attacks happened, "At one point without much noise we noticed a commotion on the other side of the park. We ran over and without seeing an attacker we found three men lying on the floor bleeding profusely from what we thought was their heads, necks or body.

"Another member of the public took off his T-shirt and tried to stop the bleeding alongside someone we assume to be his girlfriend. Me and my friend Tom put a second victim in the recovery position and tried to stem his bleeding from his ear with my canvas shopping bag.

"His breathing became increasingly irregular, and shallower until the police and paramedic arrived to help us. Another friend of mine Ranveer helped an Asian man who had also been stabbed in the face.

"This was in another part of the park from the victims we were helping and so we were separated. My wife Amy and I are obviously very shocked and shaken by what happened."

Detective Chief Superintendent Kath Barnes, Head of CTPS, said the terrorist Saadallah was arrested within five minutes of the first emergency call made to police, and a number of officers were quickly on the scene.

Saadallah came to Britain as an asylum seeker. He reportedly came to the attention of British security service MI5 in 2019, after they received information that he had aspirations to travel abroad, potentially for terrorism. He was investigated. However apparently no case file was opened.

Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) in a statement said that Saadallah was arrested initially on suspicion of murder, but has now been re-arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which gives them more time to hold him in custody.

UK Prime minister Boris Johnson said he was "appalled and sickened" by the attack: "I’m appalled and sickened that people should lose their lives in this way. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims. Thank you to Thames Valley Police for their bravery in tackling the suspect."

Opposition Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer said that "people are united in their grief," and that he wants to speak to the prime minister to discuss how to "learn from this."

Starmer added: "This is not a time for party politics. It's incumbent on all of us to pull together in response to this on a cross party basis."

CTPSE is leading the investigation. The force's chief constable, John Campbell said Sunday, there was no wider risk to the public and there was nothing to suggest anyone else was involved. The investigation is ongoing.

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