The killing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess has been declared a terrorist incident by police.<\/p>\n
Sir David was stabbed multiple times at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex on Friday (October 15).<\/p>\n
The Metropolitan Police said there was “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”.<\/p>\n
A 25-year-old British man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder, and police said they were not seeking anyone else over the death.<\/p>\n
As part of the investigation, officers are currently carrying out searches at two addresses in the London area, the Met said.<\/p>\n
The force believes the man acted alone but inquiries into the circumstances of the incident are continuing.<\/p>\n
The man is in custody in Essex, police added.<\/p>\n
Government sources have said he is a British national who, from initial inquiries, appears to be of Somali heritage.<\/p>\n
Sir David, 69, who represented Southend West, was holding a constituency surgery – where voters can meet their MP and discuss concerns – at Belfairs Methodist Church on Friday when he was attacked at 12:05 BST.<\/p>\n
Essex Police chief constable BJ Harrington said Sir David was “simply dispensing his duties when his life was horrifically cut short”.<\/p>\n
The Met said its counter-terrorism officers were working with colleagues from Essex Police and the Eastern Region Specialist Operations Unit (ERSOU).<\/p>\n
The fatal stabbing in Leigh-on-Sea has tonight been declared as a terrorist incident, with the investigation being led by Counter Terrorism Policing,” the force said.<\/p>\n
“The early investigation has revealed a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism.”<\/p>\n
Officers are appealing for anyone with any information about the incident, or those who have footage from CCTV, dash cams or video doorbell, to contact them.<\/p>\n
A Conservative backbencher for nearly forty years, Sir David entered Parliament in 1983 as the MP for Basildon.<\/p>\n
He held the seat in 1992, but switched to nearby Southend West at the 1997 election.<\/p>\n
Raised as a Roman Catholic, he was known politically as a social conservative and as a prominent campaigner against abortion and on animal welfare issues.<\/p>\n
He was also known for his championing of Southend, including a long-running campaign to win city status for the town._BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The killing of Conservative MP Sir David Amess has been declared a terrorist incident by police. Sir David was stabbed multiple times at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex on Friday (October 15). The Metropolitan Police said there was “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”. A 25-year-old British man was arrested at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7272"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7274,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7272\/revisions\/7274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonotarsomoy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}