Driver of van ‘wanted to kill Muslims’

LONDON again came under attack yesterday when a van mowed down a group of worshippers leaving a mosque, killing at least one person.

As of last night, one man had died and 10 others had been injured in what appeared to be the fourth terrorist attack in England in three months.

The attack happened just after midnight as worshippers, attending night prayers during the final week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, left the mosque in Finsbury Park, in north London.

A man driving a white van slammed into worshippers who had stopped on a footpath to help an elderly man who had collapsed at a bus stop. Police had not confirmed last night whether he was the man who died at the scene.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing the driver scream “I want to kill Muslims’’.

Brave onlookers tackled a man, holding him on the ground for 20 minutes until police arrived.

The man, 48, was arrested and taken to hospital for a mental health assessment. He was later charged on suspicion of attempted murder.

One of the onlookers, Abdul, told the BBC: “I hit him in the stomach and he fell to the ground. I asked him ‘Why did you do that?’

“I was very emotional, very upset. ‘Why did you do that — you killed so many people?’ “He said ‘Kill me, kill me.’ “He was an English man. He looked like a builder — a very big man, very strong.”

Armed police and paramedics rushed to the scene and cordoned off the streets. Eight of the hurt were taken to three local hospitals, and two others with minor injuries were treated at the scene by paramedics.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the incident was being treated as a “potential terrorist attack’’. She called an emergency meeting of national security committee Cobra.

And the Metropolitan Police said it had called in the counter-terrorism command to investigate.

The Finsbury Park mosque was once synonymous with radical Islam after the infamous hate preacher, Egyptian cleric Abu Hamza, known as Hook Hand, arrived as its imam in 1997. But it was reclaimed by the community in 2005 and has been operating as a mainstream mosque and community hub for many years.

The worshippers were struck a short distance from the mosque, where they were going for a snack and coffee before Ramadan’s daytime fasting began.

Police appeared to contradict initial reports that up to four men were involved in the attack, saying no other suspects had been identified.

Eyewitness Rabie Rafa, 42, said the man “laughed” when police arrested him.

“He just killed people laughed,’’ Mr Rafa said.

“He had just run people over, up the sidewalk and killed innocent people. It was horrible to witness.”

The United Kingdom has suffered three other deadly terrorist attacks — at Westminster, at Manchester, and at London Bridge — in the last three months, all carried out by Muslim men.

Muslims have been warning of a rise in hate crimes in response to these attacks.

The community was further devastated by last week’s horrific accidental fire at the Grenfell Tower, which killed at least 58 people, most of them Muslim. and he

He just killed people and he laughed. He had just ran people over, up the sidewalk and killed innocent people. It was horrible to witness.

— WITNESS RABIE RAFA