London Bridge attacker buried in Kotli AJK

ISLAMABAD: London Bridge attacker Usman Khan, a British national of Pakistani origin was buried in his ancestral grave-yard in Kotli district of AJK.

Usman Khan, a resident of Staffordshire area of UK, on November 29 in a brutal attack stabbed two people to death and left three others injured in an attack in London. After the London Bridge attack, Khan was shot dead by security personnel. London Bridge attack, which left two Britons dead and three more injured.

Friday’s attack killed Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23. Both were attending an event organised by Learning Together, a project based at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology aimed at aiding prisoners’ rehabilitation through providing them with higher education.

The body of Usman Khan a 28-year-old attacker was brought by his family from Islamabad airport to Kijlani village in district Kotli where the funeral took place at 4pm, following which he was buried in a local graveyard.

When contacted the family members of Usman Khan refused to speak to the media, saying they had already given their statement through the London police on Tuesday.

According to Dawn, PIA’s General Manager Public Relations Abdul Hafeez said that Usman Khan’s body was shifted to Islamabad from London aboard a PIA flight PK-792. Later, it was handed over to his family.

The official said it was the PIA’s policy that it carried bodies on the basis of genuine documentation, including foreign-origin card of the deceased and Pakistan High Commission’s letter.

The body was handed over to his relatives after passing through immigration and customs process he said.

The relatives drove the body to the town of Kotli for burial as Khan’s family didn’t want to bury him in the UK. His funeral prayers were earlier offered in a Birmingham mosque.

The UK’s domestic security service, MI5, is assessing whether the risk from Islamist terror networks has increased in the wake of Friday’s

Khan was a former terrorist convicted of involvement in a 2010 plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange and set up a military training camp in Pakistan. He served half of a 16-year sentence, before being released last December.

The incident has raised serious questions over the way he was being monitored by the probation service, police and security officials.

Meanwhile DAWN also added that Foreign Office spokesman was asked whether any special permission was required from the government for bringing the bodies of foreign nationals to Pakistan for burial or it was allowed for the people of Pakistan origin, and if any permission was granted in the case of the London Bridge attacker.

He replied through WhatsApp: “Is his body in Pakistan? I have no confirmation of this.”

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