Last Saturday’s terrorist attacks at London Bridge and the nearby Borough Market last Saturday have since been swallowed up by international coverage of the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan and his public fight with Donald Trump. As Late Late Show host and native Brit James Corden reminded audiences Tuesday night, however, what happened over the weekend is still fresh in the mind of Londoners. London police recently released the names of the attackers, and as their investigation into precisely what happened unfolds, more details will likely come to light.
Like the belief of Valeria Khadija Collina, mother of 22-year-old Youssef Zaghba, that her son became radicalized only after he emigrated from Italy to Great Britain last year. According to the Chicago Tribune, Collina — whose Italian family of Moroccan descent recently converted to Islam — claimed her son had wanted to move to Syria and raise a family before he was introduced to online radical teachings abroad:
“Last year… when I went to England, he was a bit more rigid,” Collina, a convert to Islam, told reporters in a series of interviews Wednesday. “From his face, from his look, I could see there was a radicalization, as you say, and this happened in England, absolutely.”
What’s more, Collina claims she tried to intervene when Zaghba’s fascination with what he was reading online became too much:
“At this point you should be perfect. You should not even look at anything a little bit strange on the internet, you should see the right people and do the right things and it seemed like he was doing it,” according to audio of her group interview provided by the ANSA news agency.
Second attacker Khurum Butt, a native Pakistani who came to Britain as a child, was already well known by the authorities for his extremist views. Zaghba and the third attacker, Rachid Redouane (also known by the last name Elkhdar), were to a lesser extent, but the authorities are still trying to determine how the trio first met. Though as the Tribune adds, Collina told her interviewers she “recognized” Butt and Elkhdar as friends of her son.
(Via Chicago Tribune)