Europe

London attacker's wife 'saddened and shocked'

Wife of Khalid Masood, who killed at least 4 people in terror attack near Britain's parliament, issues statement via police

28.03.2017 - Update : 29.03.2017
London attacker's wife 'saddened and shocked'

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON

The wife of Khalid Masood, the terrorist who killed at least four people and injured dozens more outside the U.K. parliament in London last week, has condemned her husband’s actions, saying she was “saddened and shocked”.

In comments carried in a police statement, Rohey Haydara expressed her condolences to the victims’ families.

Haydara’s statement came a day after Masood’s mother, Janet Ajao, also said she had "shed many tears for the people caught up in this horrendous incident".

Masood, the man who drove a rental car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge last week before fatally stabbing a policeman, was originally named Adrian Russell Ajao.

An inquest into the deaths his victims will open on Wednesday.

Muslim reaction continues

Speaking on Monday, the British government’s Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, a Muslim cabinet minister, said: “The extremists want to drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

Javid said terrorists “want us to turn on each other.”

His comments came amid reaction from the U.K.’s Muslim community.

Numerous Muslim organizations and groups have reacted to the terror attack by collecting donations for the victims’ families and organizing solidarity demonstrations.

Around 100, mostly-Muslim, women formed a human chain on Westminster Bridge -- where Masood carried out his attack -- on Sunday.

Many Muslims also attended vigils for the victims, held across the country.

Javid said extremists were angry when “they see Muslims playing such a positive role in this great nation”.

“Proud to be British. And proud to be Muslim,” Javid added.

No Daesh links

U.K. police on Monday said they had not found any evidence linking Masood to terrorist organizations, such as Daesh or al-Qaeda.

The Daesh terror group had issued a statement after Masood’s attack, claiming him as a “soldier”.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said in a statement there was no evidence to suggest any links between Masood and the terrorist group.

“His attack method appears to be based on low sophistication, low tech, low cost techniques copied from other attacks, and echo the rhetoric of IS [Daesh] leaders in terms of methodology and attacking police and civilians, but at this stage I have no evidence he discussed this with others," Basu added.

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