The Latest Russell Square Terror Attack.

At around 21:30 (GMT) last night a man randomly attacked people with a knife/bladed article in Russell Square in London, UK.

This of course is the site where Hasib Hussein detonated his bomb aboard a bus killing 26 during the Al Qaeda terror attacks in London on July 7th 2005 (7/7/05).

Prior to being overpowered by the police last night's attacker succeeded in killing a 60 year old American woman and wounding five others. These included another American, an Israeli and two Australians.

The attack has since been identified as Zakaria Bulhan - a 19 year old Norwegian of Somali origin. It seems that at the time of his arrest Bulhan was displaying clear signs of a serious psychiatric disorder.

This latest attack seems to be in a similar mould as the December 5th 2015 (5/12/15) terror attack at Leytonstone Underground Rail (Metro) station also in London, UK. Here Muhaydin Mire - a Muslim of Somali origin who suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia randomly started attacking passers-by wounding three. Despite Mire attempting to behead one of his victims nobody was killed in the attack.

The Leytonstone attack occurred against the backdrop of the December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15) vote in the UK Parliament on whether to authorise military force against Islamist terror groups in Syria as well as Iraq. This debate was obviously covered extensively in the British media and atmosphere around the discussion was extremely poisonous. For example a number of Members of Parliament (MP's) who supported military action reported receiving death threats.

Therefore it seems that the public debate over the Parliamentary vote combined with Mire's mental illness to inspire or radicalise him into launching his attack.

Having been convicted on June 8th 2016 (8/6/16) of attempted murder Mire was sentenced on Monday (1/8/16). This was obviously widely covered in the British media including soft-interviews with his victims on the breakfast shows.

London's Metropolitan Police seemed to capitalise on Mire's sentencing to publicly unveil its newly formed, highly militarised counter-terrorism specialist firearms unit yesterday (3/8/16). Both in referring to Mire's sentencing and yesterday's unveiling the Metropolitan Police Commissioner repeatedly warned the public and any near-by TV camera that the threat of the next terror attack against the UK was not a question of if but when.

Therefore it again seems as though the public debate over Mire's sentencing and the nation's counter-terrorism preparations combined with Bulhan's mental illness to inspire or radicalise him into launching his attack.

As I discussed extensively in relation to the recent terror attacks in Munich, Reutlingen and Ansbach in Germany some type of mental illness is such a common element of the profile of an Islamist terrorist you could almost say that it is a pre-requisite.

Although he was found to be sane as per the M'Naughten rules of criminal responsibility a large part of the discussion during Mire's sentencing was his Schizophrenia. The argument was over whether he should be sent to prison for a fixed term or committed to a psychiatric hospital for a non-fixed term. In the end the Judge compromised by sentencing him to a lenient 8.5 year prison term. The first part of which was to be served in a psychiatric hospital.

This discussion really had its roots in the May 22nd 2013 (22/5/13) murder of Lee Rigby in the Woolwich area of London. This was committed by two men - Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.

Adebolajo is simply unpleasant however Adebowale who acted more as a sidekick rather than a full conspirator also suffered from a severe form of Schizophrenia.

As a result during sentencing a lot of people with experience of mental health issues felt that Adebowale should have been committed to a psychiatric hospital. However under political and public pressure he was instead sent to prison. After about two weeks in prison Adebowale became so ill had to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital anyway.

Quite apart from avoiding a repeat of that apparent miscarriage of justice there also seemed to be quite a desire for Mire to be sent to a hospital rather than prison. After all there is a certain propaganda value to someone who stands up in Court claiming to be a brave soldier of Islam protecting innocent Syrians having it pointed out to them by a Judge that they are in fact delusional.

Today the police have come out and announced that they're found no evidence linking Bulhan to any known terrorist group and therefore are considering his mental illness the main motivator behind the attack.

This has somehow been translated by the media as; "Not a Terrorist Attack" prompting quite a backlash on social media.

This is an issue that has long irritated my sense of pedantry.

Under British law Terrorism is defined by the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 which encompasses a number of previous acts. This creates a number of specific offences such as being a member of a banned or proscribed terrorist group or fundraising for such a group.

However there is no offence of "Terrorist Murder." There is simply the common law offence of "Murder." Even the making and setting off of bombs is covered by the Explosive Substances Act of 1883.

Therefore in a cases such as this whether or not it is classed as terrorism relates only to the investigation. Not any prosecutions that investigation may lead to.

The first thing the police did in investigating last night's attack was to place an embargo on it being reported.

Unlike a ban this is strictly voluntary rather than legally enforceable although journalists who want to maintain a good relationship with the police would be wary of violating the embargo. It was around this time that I noticed the "Moments" and "Trends" function on my Twitter account suddenly stopped working.

Before the embargo was lifted some five hours later the police had interviewed Bulhan, searched his home and electronic devices and interviewed his known associates like his family. As such the attack was most definitely investigated as an act of terrorism.

That terrorism investigation revealed that there was no indication that Bulhan had acted as part of wider network that posed an ongoing threat to the public. That investigation is still ongoing even if the police now consider mental illness to be the main motive.

There is of course also a significant political reason to downplay the fact that the UK has once again come under Islamist terror attack - albeit a small and isolated one.

Tomorrow (5/8/16) the Summer Olympics open in Brazil.

This has already been marred by attempts to have Russia banned as punishment for its longstanding opposition to Islamist terrorism. That effort has been led by British Parliamentarian Sebastian Lord Coe who has joined the British Olympic team for their preparations.

Admitting that the UK had suffered another Islamist terror attack just days before the start of the Olympics would really serve to underline just what a nasty piece of work Lord Coe is.

20:00 on 4/8/16 (UK date).