Galicia woman, 43, one of the four dead in London terrorist attack
Galicia woman, 43, one of the four dead in London terrorist attack
THE woman known to have been killed on Westminster Bridge in yesterday's terrorist attack has been named as 43-year-old Aysha Frade, a Spaniard working at a college in London.
Her father is from Cyprus and met her mother, from the Galicia town of Betanzos (A Coruña province) in the British capital, where Aysha, who has two daughters, has always lived.
Aysha's parents are thought to have moved back to Betanzos, where her two elder sisters own and run a language school teaching English to Spaniards.
The deceased is said to have spent her month-long summer holiday every year in Betanzos with her family and enjoying the town's patron saint fiestas.
Rumours had already reached Betanzos before Aysha's death was confirmed by officials, says mayor Ramón García Vázquez.
Aysha worked in the administration department of the independent sixth-form centre, DLD College London, near Westminster Bridge, and the principal, Rachel Borland, said she was a 'highly-regarded and loved' staff member.
The 'quickie' attack took place on the anniversary of the Brussels bombing last year, and just as MPs were discussing the imminent triggering of Article 50 to start the Brexit negotiations.
Senior MI5 officials say the days of wide-scale bomb blasts and plane hijacking appear to be over, since they involve extensive planning, logistics and take several months to arrange, giving the Secret Services time to find out and thwart them.
Terrorists are now opting for quicker and more spontaneous methods to avoid their being frustrated by Intelligence – attacks which involve a lower death toll but are, nevertheless, designed to cause just as much media frenzy, says the MI5.
Movements such as the Jihad 'crusade' seek as much attention as possible, and thrive on social unrest and division.
Aysha is one of four confirmed dead, who include PC Keith Palmer, 48, stabbed outside the Houses of Parliament, an unnamed pedestrian on the bridge, and the killer himself, a 40-year-old man of Asian origin who was shot down by police.
Another 40 or so have been injured, including French high school pupils, university students from Lancashire, and South Korean and German tourists.
At least seven are thought to be critical, including a woman who either fell or was thrown into the river Thames but was pulled out alive, albeit in a touch-and-go condition.
Sadiq Khan, London's first-ever Muslim mayor, has hotly condemned the attacks and says the city 'will not be cowed by terrorism'.
Six properties in Birmingham – including one on Hagley Road – and London have been raided, and seven people arrested.
The attacker has not been named, but Scotland Yard's acting deputy commissioner Mark Rowley says the force 'thinks it knows who he is', that the massacre is strongly believed to be related to Jihad terrorism, and has asked 'investigative journalists' to refrain from naming him.
Photograph of aftermath, showing an injured pedestrian on the ground, was taken by former foreign minister and senior fellow at Harvard University's European Studies Centre, Radoslaw Sikorski (from EFE news agency)
