Potential Terror Link in Ireland Stabbing That Killed at Least One
PHOTO: Police in Dunbalk, Ireland.
Right near the Irish border with Britain's Northern Ireland territory, a potential act of terror is being investigated. The mass stabbing occurred a few days ago, and police stated that a Japanese man had been killed by the attacker.
At the moment, reports indicated that the attacker was an Irish citizen who attempted to seek asylum to Britain through the Irish-Northern Ireland border with the UK. When British security officials and border guards refused to take him in as an asylum seeker, it is believed he turned back to conduct a mass stab attack.
The attacker did not appear to have specific targets, police said. It's unsure whether he was aiming at targeting tourists in the Irish city of Dunbalk, where the stabbing occurred. At this point, it's unlikely the stabbing was connected to ISIS or groups similar to that of the middle-eastern radical Islamist attacks.
However, it isn't so uncommon that mass stabbings are claimed as lone-wolf attacks by the terror group days and potentially weeks after the incident occurred. In Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, a stab attack killed two and injured at least eight. Around four to six days later, ISIS officially claimed responsibility.
For the time being, police did say they would investigate the act with the potential intent to direct the inquiry towards a terror offense; though no evidence is currently able to back their claim that the suspect is a terrorist.
Police did not clarify the suspect's name at the time being, which has the media surrounding the potential that the man was attacking the city for radical Islamist views.
A recent report from BBC news indicated that the Dunbalk stabbing was 'not terror-related', though other news sources are skeptical to rule out the potential of terrorism this soon as the inquiry commences into the attacker's motive.