Attacker’s mother says he was radicalized in Britain

LONDON (AP) — The Italian mother of one of the London Bridge attackers said Wednesday her 22-year-old son became radicalized in Britain, falling under the spell of Islamic extremism and confiding to her that he had dreams of moving to Syria.

Valeria Khadija Collina said her son Youssef Zaghba, an Italian national of Moroccan descent, told her he wanted to go to Syria to start a family in a religious Islamic climate — not to fight. He changed, she said, when he went to Britain about a year ago and was seduced by radical views propagated on the internet.

“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.”

Police have named Zaghba as one of the three attackers who drove a rented van into pedestrians on London Bridge before fleeing into a busy market place and stabbing those who crossed their path. Eight people were killed and dozens were injured. All three of the attackers were shot dead by police.

The other two attackers were identified as Khurum Butt, a 27-year-old whose extremist views had been reported to police, and 30-year-old Rachid Redouane, also known as Rachid Elkhdar, a Moroccan pastry chef. It was not immediately clear how the three knew each other, but Collina said she recognized both Butt and Elkhdar as friends of her son.

Butt, who was born in Pakistan and moved to Britain as a child, had worked as an office manager at Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC spokeswoman Jules Pars said Wednesday that Butt worked there in 2015. The company was looking into Italian media reports that Zaghba also was a former employee.

At least two of the attackers were known to British intelligence and law-enforcement officials, raising questions about whether anything could have been done to prevent the assault.

Italian authorities said Zaghba was stopped at the Bologna airport in 2016 and questioned in Italy, but never charged with a crime. Italian officials said suspicions about him were shared with British authorities and his name was subsequently listed in the European-wide intelligence-sharing system. He was also stopped at London’s Stansted airport in January, but let go.

Collina says police called her when her son was stopped at the airport on March 15, 2016 and asked if she knew he was going to Turkey. Collina says she told them to detain Zaghba and prohibit him from going.

His passport and cellphone were seized, but he got them back after a court determined there wasn’t enough evidence to arrest him. Authorities said he aroused suspicion because he tried to board a flight to Turkey with a one-way ticket and a small backpack.