Terrorists planned 7.5-tonne lorry

London Bridge attackers had wanted to use flammable liquid and a truck instead of the van DEADLIER PLAN OF ACTION

London, June 9: The assailants behind a terror attack in London last week had also prepared a stash of Molotov cocktails and initially tried to hire a truck rather than a van to mow down pedestrians, British police said on Saturday.

In a statement, the metropolitan police said forensic officers examining the white rental van found “13 wine bottles with rags wrapped around them and believed to be filled with a flammable liquid,” as well as two blowtorches.

The three attackers struck pedestrians with the van and then went on a stabbing spree wearing fake suicide vests last Saturday in the London Bridge area, a popular nightlife district.

Eight people were killed before the assailants — Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba — were shot dead by police.

Forty-eight people were injured. Police also said Butt had tried to hire a 7.5tonne lorry hours before carrying out the attack, but was turned down because the payment failed.

“Because of the fact his payment method failed he couldn’t get hold of that lorry,” counter-terrorism command chief Dean Haydon said.

“My view at the moment is that he then went to plan B and ended up hiring the van instead,” Haydon said.

“When I come back to Butt trying to get hold of a 7.5 tonne lorry — the effect could have been even worse.”

Haydon went on to say that “it’s feasible when you look at their actions, they were still fairly close to the van, there is a possibility they could have come back to the van. “Was there a plan B that, after they had stabbed individuals, were they then planning to come back to the van and ignite the Molotov cocktails and that was a secondary attack? We don’t know — I can only surmise.” The British media also said that had Butt succeeded in hiring the truck, the number of casualties in would have been much higher.

His efforts to hire the truck failed when his payment was declined.

The truck they had wanted to hire was smaller but similar to the one used in last year’s Nice attack in which over 80 people were killed in France.

— AP (From left) Khuram Shazad Butt, Rachid Redouane and Youssef Zaghba, who orchestrated the attack. The attackers rammed the van into pedestrians on London Bridge, killing eight people and injuring 48 others.