London bridge attacker given quiet burial in Pakistan

The man, who killed two people close to London bridge last week, was on Friday buried in his ancestral village of northwestern Pakistan in a funeral service attended by around 300 mourners.

The father of Usman Khan, the attacker, and other family members were present at the funeral, held around 4 pm in the village of Kajlani in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, local police spokesperson Mohammad Asghar told EFE.

"The father and other family members were crying," said Asghar, who confirmed that Khan's body was brought to Pakistan from London on Friday morning.

Around 300 people attended the funeral services, although there were no chants or slogan shouting and the family did not allow photographs.

Zakir Hussain, a village resident and a cousin of Khan's father, participated in the burial.

He told EFE that as he attended the funeral since Khan, a 28-year-old British national of Pakistani origin, was "a relative," even though "he killed somebody".

"There were flowers petals around the body. It's a normal way of doing (the funeral)," he said.

Khan's family had condemned the attack on Tuesday and offered their condolences to the victims.

"We totally condemn his actions and we wish to express our condolences to the families of the victims that have died and wish a speedy recovery to all of the injured," the family said in a statement.

The corpse of Khan was flown in into Pakistan a week after he went on a stabbing spree near the London Bridge on Nov. 29, killing two people and wounding three others before being shot dead by the police.

At the time of the attack, Khan had participated in a conference organised by the University of Cambridge on the reintegration of prisoners, in a building on the north end of London Bridge.

Before the police arrived, a group of civil managed to hold the attacker to the ground.

The attacker was known to the authorities and had been convicted for planning terrorist acts, although he was released in December 2018 after serving half of his sentence.

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack on Saturday.

( With inputs from IANS )