LONDON/LIVERPOOL: A British teenager unexpectedly pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event last July, while the government said it would hold an inquiry into the atrocity which was followed by nationwide rioting.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, surprised the judge, prosecutors and police by admitting he had carried out the killings in the northern English town of Southport, making the trial that was about to start at Liverpool Crown Court unnecessary.
He also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder relating to the attack, as well as to producing the deadly poison ricin and possessing an Al-Qaeda training manual.
Hours later, the government announced there would be a public inquiry, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer saying it was “a moment of trauma for the nation when there are grave questions to answer as to how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls.”
Rudakubana had previously been referred to Prevent, a counter-radicalization scheme, three times, but no action had been taken and he had also been in contact with the police, the courts, and mental health services, the government said.
“It is clear that this was a young man with a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence,” said Ursula Doyle from the Crown Prosecution Service. “He has shown no signs of remorse.”
Rudakubana, who was 17 at the time of the incident, initially refused to speak when asked to confirm his name, as he had at all previous hearings, which meant that “not guilty” pleas had been entered on his behalf in December.
But after consulting with his lawyer, he admitted murdering Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, who were at the summer vacation event.
Doyle said he had carried out a “meticulously planned rampage” as innocent children enjoyed a carefree dance workshop and made friendship bracelets.
Judge Julian Goose said he would sentence Rudakubana on Thursday and that a life sentence was inevitable.
Anti-immigrant riots sparked across Britain
Rudakubana, who was born in Britain, was arrested shortly after the attack in the quiet seaside town north of Liverpool. Despite finding the Al-Qaeda manual, police had said the incident was not being treated as terrorism-related, and his motive remains unknown.
In the wake of the murders, large disturbances broke out in Southport after false reports spread on social media that the suspect was a radical migrant.
The unrest spread across Britain with attacks on mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. Starmer blamed far-right thuggery and more than 1,500 people were arrested.
The Guardian newspaper reported that Rudakubana, the son of devout Christians who had moved to Britain from Rwanda, had been referred to Prevent over concerns that he was looking at online material about US school massacres and past terrorist attacks. But he was not judged to be a terrorism risk, the paper said.
The interior minister Yvette Cooper said an inquiry was needed so families of the victims “can get answers about how this terrible attack could take place and about why this happened to their children.”
UK to hold inquiry after teenager admits murdering three girls in Southport
https://arab.news/8xbne
UK to hold inquiry after teenager admits murdering three girls in Southport
- Despite finding Al-Qaeda manual, police had said the incident was not being treated as terrorism-related, and his motive remains unknown
- In the wake of the murders, large disturbances broke out in Southport after false reports spread on social media that the suspect was a radical migrant
Afghan clerics ban use of nation’s territory for attacks, declare national defense obligatory
- Scholars’ gathering attended by Taliban leaders, Supreme Judge Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani
- Decree says citizens must not allow Afghan soil ‘to be used against any other country’
KABUL: Afghan scholars have issued a fatwa, or religious decree, banning the use of Afghan soil for attacks on other countries and declaring national defense a sacred religious duty, less than a week after deadly border clashes erupted again between Afghanistan and Pakistan following a fragile ceasefire.
The decree was issued on Wednesday following a grand assembly in Kabul that was attended by around a thousand clerics, religious leaders and officials.
They held discussions in the presence of several Taliban leaders, including Supreme Judge Sheikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Minister of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Khalid Hanafi, and Minister of Higher Education Sheikh Neda Mohammad Nadeem.
In a five-article decree seen by Arab News, the scholars said that defending national interests is “necessary and obligatory” for every Muslim.
“Whenever anyone from outside Afghanistan attempts to invade or harm the country, defense becomes a religious obligation. Muslims, without hesitation, must consider defending the system, the land, and their own values as an obligation. This defense is called ‘sacred jihad,’” one article reads.
It also said the people of Afghanistan must “not allow anyone to use the Afghan soil for destructive purposes,” and that “no one has the right to give foreign countries permission to operate or interfere” in the country under any name.
“The Islamic Emirate must prevent such actions and take necessary measures to stop those attempting it,” another article reads.
The Kabul gathering was aimed at uniting religious opinion behind the Taliban’s stance, said one Taliban official, who spoke with Arab News on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“The message is clear. If we are attacked, we must respond — this is now an obligation,” another Taliban official, who was also not authorized to speak to the media, told Arab News.
Deadly border clashes broke out last week between Afghan and Pakistani forces, marking violations of a ceasefire that was in place since October.
After the ceasefire agreement, subsequent talks for a long-term truce have so far yielded little progress. The latest deadly exchange of fire comes amid reports of back-channel negotiations between Afghan and Pakistani officials, which neither governments have openly confirmed.
Wednesday’s fatwa was seen by some as a calibrated signal to Pakistan, which has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of tolerating cross-border militancy.
“The above resolution reflects the collective wisdom of the Afghan Ulema and is clearly intended to convey a message to Pakistan regarding reconciliation between the two Muslim countries,” Asif Durrani, Pakistan’s former special envoy to Afghanistan, wrote on X.
“The government of Pakistan should welcome the resolution and offer the resumption of dialogue with the Taliban regime.”
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have been deteriorating since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, with clashes intensifying along the Durand Line — their 2,640-km border.
Dozens of people died during the violence in October, making it the deadliest confrontation in years between the neighbors.
Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of sheltering fighters from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and allowing them to stage cross-border attacks — a charge Afghanistan denies, saying it does not allow its territory to be used against other countries.
Wasi Baheer, an Afghan political analyst, said the decree did not signify a new move from the Taliban government.
“This is not big news for either country. The leadership of the Taliban had announced this earlier — this is a repeated decree calling jihad abroad impermissible,” he told Arab News.
“The TTP problem is not new for Pakistan,” Baheer said. “I think Kabul cannot do more to help Pakistan. The fatwa will not have a huge effect on things, as the Afghan Taliban are not involved, and the TTP is too strong now to listen.”
