The suspected actions of Brusthom Ziamani, a follower of radical preacher Anjem Choudary, and another prisoner at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire are being investigated as a terror attack
19:55, 10 Jan 2020
Brusthom Ziamani has been named as a suspect in reports(Image: Metropolitan Police/PA)
The stabbing of prison officers by two inmates in fake suicide belts is being investigated as a terrorist attack.
One warder suffered head, face and chest wounds in high-security Whitemoor prison, Cambs.
He and four others were taken to hospital on Thursday morning but have since been released.
Scotland Yard confirmed it was being treated as a terror attack.
It is believed the first of its kind to be launched inside a mainland jail although an IRA bomb exploded inside Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast in 1991.
The incident unfolded at HMP Whitemoor(Image: PA)
One suspect has been named in reports as convicted terrorist Brusthom Ziamani, 24.
The second is said to be a Muslim convert jailed for a violent offence.
Ziamani, a follower of radical preacher Anjem Choudary, was found guilty in 2015 of plotting to behead a soldier.
Police say that in Thursday’s attack both men wore belts with “various items crudely attached”.
Steve Gillan, of the Prison Officers’ Association, said: “But for the bravery of staff we could have been talking about the death of an officer at Whitemoor.”