Britain Charges Teen With Al Qaida Ties With Terrorism
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
LONDON (Worthy News) – The teenager who allegedly killed three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England in a stabbing rampage that sparked massive violent protests has been charged with a terrorism offense, officials said Tuesday.
Merseyside Police said that Axel Rudakubana, 18, who was accused of murdering the three girls and injuring 10 others, produced the deadly poison ricin that was found in his home.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy said Rudakubana also had the terror group Al-Qaida’s “jihad training manual.”
The document titled “Military studies in the jihad against the tyrants: The al-Qaeda training manual” includes a translation of a manual produced by Al-Qaida offering advice “on urban warfare and terrorism,” law enforcement sources said.
The rest were instructions to operatives on “how to establish terrorism cells and what to say if they are arrested, “ according to sources familiar with the material.
Although the ricin was found in a search of Rudakubana’s home in early August, health officials stressed that the “ risk to the public and emergency workers was low.”
Rudakubana, who police said was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Rwandan parents, already faced three counts of murder over the deaths of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
CHARGED WITH MURDER
The suspect, who is 18 but was 17 at the time of the attack, is charged with the murders of Bebe King, aged six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine.
He is also accused of attempted murder of Leanne Lucas, the class instructor, businessman John Hayes, and eight children, not named for legal reasons, and with possession of a knife.
However, the leftist British government denied Tuesday that it tried to cover up the attack despite the details only emerging three months after the stabbings.
Suspicions among anti-Islam protesters that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker motivated by terrorism sparked riots over the summer, with thousands arrested and dozens jailed.
Ahead of the new charges, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said 1,590 people had been arrested in connection with the anti-migration and anti-Islam riots that followed the stabbings.
There have been 1,015 charges, while 572 people remain on bail. Inquiries to find 216 wanted people continue, officials said.
The stabbing underscored broader concerns about tensions over migration in Britain, although the alleged attacker was born on British soil.