AGENCY
London: Three knife-wielding attackers in fake suicide vests unleashed a terror rampage in the British capital, plowing a van into pedestrians on the iconic London Bridge before stabbing revellers in a nearby market, killing seven people for which Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the “evil ideology of Islamist extremism”.
At least 48 people were also injured in the attack that took place last night at around 10 pm, the third to hit Britain in less than three months and just days before the general election on June 8. Three attackers drove a white van into crowds on busy London Bridge and then fled the van wielding large knives and attacked people indiscriminately at bars and restaurants in nearby Borough Market shouting “This is for Allah”, police and witnesses said.
At least seven people were killed in the attack and 48 were taken to hospital, the Metropolitan police said.
The attack unfolded quickly as armed police rushed to the scene and within eight minutes shot dead the three male attackers who were wearing what looked like explosives which later turned out to be fake. “The suspects were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes, said Mark Rowley, Met Police Assistant Commissioner and the UK s anti-terrorism lead.
“We are treating this as a terrorist incident and a full investigation is already underway, led by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, he said, urging people with information and images to contact the police.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest attack to hit Britain. No details have been released about the suspects and detectives are investigating whether they acted alone.
British counter-terrorism police said they had arrested 12 people in Barking, in east London, in connection with the van and knife attack.
The arrests followed a raid by police at a flat owned by one of the three attackers.
Police said that “a number of addresses” in Barking were still being searched.
National campaigning for the June 8 general election was suspended for the day in respect to the victims, but Prime Minister Theresa May insisted that the elections would go ahead as planned.
Speaking outside Downing Street after she chaired the emergency COBRA meeting with senior security chiefs, May said said, “Violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process.”
She said “it is time to say enough is enough” and called for tougher measures to contain Islamic extremism in Britain.
She said the recent terror attacks in Britain, while not directly linked, “are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism.”
“It is an ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth. Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time.”
The flag at Downing Street is flying at half-mast as a mark of respect to the victims of the attack and the ruling Conservative party has announced that it has suspended its national election campaign for Sunday, with plans to review during the course of the day.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called it “a deliberate and cowardly attack on innocent Londoners”.
US President Donald Trump offered his help to the UK, tweeting “WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!” — and highlighting his thwarted ban on travellers from six mainly Muslim countries.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the attacks in London, terming them as “shocking”.
The latest terror attack, just four days before the general election on June 8, comes less than two weeks after a suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, targeted a Manchester concert on May 22, killing 22 people.
