Suicide by Cop: How ISIS-Inspired Terrorists ‘Emulate Each Other’ To Generate Maximum Fear by Victoria Bell - Yahoo News UK
The Streatham attack was the second lone Islamist-related terror attack in London in the past three months.
Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police on Streatham High Road after stabbing three people in what police have called a terrorist incident.
It follows a similar attack in November when five people were stabbed, two fatally, near London Bridge.
The two incidents are notable because both attackers had fake explosives strapped to their bodies. Experts told Yahoo News UK the attacks could be examples of “suicide by cop”, in which terrorists deliberately behave in a threatening manner to force police officers to shoot them dead.
Dr Steve Hewitt, a senior lecturer at Birmingham University and expert on lone wolf terror attacks, says the idea of suicide by cop is an interesting one as London has now seen at least three Islamist attacks with fake suicide vests – including the previous London Bridge terror attack in June 2017.
The killers responsible for the 2017 attack all wore the vests, and their tactics seem to have influenced the later incidents…