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LONDON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Two British families have recently showed their disapproval of U.S. President Donald Trump's "underreported" terrorist attack list, which included their children's deaths last August in Australia.
The tragedy happened in a backpacker's hostel in Queensland, Australia, in which Mia Ayliffe-Chung and Tom Jackson were stabbed and killed by Smail Ayad, a French man who lived with the victims in the hostel.
Jackson's parents on Wednesday tweeted that Tom and Mia died because of the "actions of a disturbed individual," a claim supported by Mia's mother Rosie Ayliffe.
Ayliffe said in a tweet Thursday that "Tom and Mia's deaths were not committed out of some misguided interpretation of the Koran."
She also confirmed that the possibility of an Islamic terror attack was discounted in the early stages of the police investigation.
Police in Australia had said that Ayad uttered "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the greatest" in Arabic) during the attack, but there was no other sign of radicalization.
The families' clarifications came as the White House released a list Monday evening of 78 attacks around the world from September 2014 to December 2016, including Tom and Mia's case, which it said Western media have ignored.
Trump also said on Monday that "the very, very dishonest press" chose to ignore attacks by Islamist militants.
Although the list appeared to be a tool for Trump to upgrade his "running war" with U.S. media, the two British families seized this opportunity to blast the U.S. president's "callous decree" on immigration.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 27 banning the entry into the United States of citizens of seven Middle Eastern countries for 90 days, the entry of all immigrants for 120 days and the entry of Syrian immigrants indefinitely.
"Tom was a fun loving 'citizen of the world' ... who would be appalled at the prejudice, hatred and downright nastiness of what we see spewing out of many Western nations now -- despicably led by the U.S. and the U.K. it seems," Tom's father, Les Jackson, said in a tweet.
Ayliffe also warned in an open letter to Trump that "this vilification of a whole nation and their people based on religion is a terrifying reminder of the horror that can ensue when we allow ourselves to be led by ignorant people into darkness and hatred."
