Terrorist in London attacks '˜may have had links with Crawley'

A terrorist who murdered three people in an attack in London yesterday may have had links with Crawley.

That’s the fear of leading Crawley Muslim, Ahsan Ahmedi, regional president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, based at the Noor Mosque in Langley Green.

He said that he was concerned that, worryingly, the terrorist may have belonged to an extremist group which once had a base in Crawley “and may still have sympathies for their perverse and evil ideology.”

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Police arrested seven people following raids in London and Birmingham last night after the terrorist ploughed into pedestrians at Westminster Bridge before stabbing to death PC Keith Palmer at the Houses of Parliament. Three other people died and scores were injured.

Mr Ahmedi, condemned the attacks as ‘evil’ and said: “Our prayers for those who have been injured in the attack and also for those who have suffered trauma through witnessing the incident.”

He said the whole Ahmadiyya Muslim Association in Sussex offered “sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who gave up their lives through the action of the evil perpetrator who committed an evil act yesterday in Westminster.

“The bravery of police officer PC Keith Palmer who died due to the knife attack had prevented many more likely death is also recognised.”

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He said Crawley had experience of a particular extremist group “from time to time” and their former head had visited the town on a regular basis in the 1990s.

He added: “I trust the police are fully aware of the activities of such groups if they still prevail in Crawley. We must remain vigilant and continue to rid Crawley of extremism.”

Meanwhile, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association is to hold a Peace Symposiumat a mosque in Morden on Saturday which is expected to be attended by ministers, MPs, ambassadors and faith leaders on how to rid terrorism ‘through true political justice and spreading the message of peace’ and the true teachings of Islam.