TERROR BACK ON LONDON STREETS
POLICE fired an “unprecedented” 50 bullets to kill the three London Bridge terrorists because they believed the attackers were wearing suicide belts, the country’s head of counter-terrorism said.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said a member of the public also received a gunshot wound in the hail of bullets from the eight officers.
Seven people were killed and 48 injured in the attack on Saturday, with 21 fighting for their lives in hospital.
Twelve people have been arrested in connection with the atrocity after an armed raid in Barking, east London.
Mr Rowley said: “Eight police firearms officers discharged their weapons.
“Whilst this will be subject to an investigation by the IPCC, our initial assessment is in the region of 50 rounds - in the region of 50 bullets were fired by those eight officers. “The three attackers were shot dead. “The situation these officers were confronted with was critical - a matter of life and death - three armed men wearing what appeared to be suicide belts.”
Mr Rowley added: “As the officers confronted a terrorist, a member of the public also suffered a gunshot wound.
“Although the injuries are not critical in nature, they are in hospital receiving medical attention.”
Mr Rowley said 36 people were being treated in hospital for various injuries, a number of them “extremely serious”.
Giving an update on the investigation outside New Scotland Yard, he said “significant progress” had been made in identifying the attackers.
It comes after police raids in east London, including activity at an address in East Ham yesterday afternoon.
Mr Rowley revealed that the white Renault van used to target pedestrians on London Bridge had been “recently hired” by one of the terrorists.
He said that as well as more armed police across the capital “the public will also see an increased physical measures in order to keep public safe on London’s bridges”.
It comes two months after Khalid Masood mowed down crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing five people.
Earlier Prime Minister Theresa May warned that Britain is in the grip of a spate of copycat terror plots and it emerged that an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer was among the 48 people injured by the terrorists.
The Government’s emergency Cobra committee gathered yesterday afternoon, for the second time that day, to discuss the attack.
It was attended by officials only, following a ministerial-level meeting chaired by Mrs May and attended by six Cabinet colleagues and the Mayor of London in the morning.
She was due to chair a further meeting of the committee, which brings together senior Government ministers, Whitehall officials and security officers, this morning.
Mrs May promised action against terror on four fronts as she declared after the London Bridge attacks that “things need to change”.
Along with the sympathy for victims, the praise for emergency workers and the appeals for unity heard after the Westminster killings and the Manchester suicide bombing, Mrs May responded to the latest outrage by setting out plans for Government action.
Her stance led to accusations from Labour that she was making political capital on a day when the major parties had agreed to put election campaigning on hold.
Speaking outside 10 Downing Street after meeting with senior cabinet colleagues and security chiefs in the Government’s Cobra emergency committee, Mrs May delivered an uncompromising message on the need to step up Britain’s response to the terror threat.
“We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are. Things need to change and they need to change in four important ways,” she said.
It was not immediately clear precisely what form Mrs May’s proposed changes will take. It is understood she wants any review to take account of the changing nature of the attacks seen in recent months.
Mrs May said that the Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge atrocities had seen a new form of copycat attack by individuals and small groups who are not necessarily linked in a network but are inspired by each other’s actions.
She identified the common thread behind the attacks as “the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism that preaches hatred, sows division and promotes sectarianism”.
A minute’s silence will be held at 11am tomorrow in remembrance of those who died in the London Bridge attack, a Government spokesman said.
The attackers brought carnage to the streets of the capital brandishing 12-inch knives, shouting “this is for
Allah”.
Police were called at around 10.08pm on Saturday to reports of a vehicle striking pedestrians on London Bridge. The white van then continued to drive to Borough Market.
Three men then left the vehicle and began to stab and injure people, including a British Transport Police officer and the Scotland Yard officer, neither of whom is believed to be in a life-threatening condition.
The suspects were confronted and shot by police at Borough Market within eight minutes of the first emergency call being made.
The three were wearing what appeared to be explosive vests, with police later confirming they were fake.
Witnesses said the terrorists drove into pedestrians on the bridge and then emerged and attacked some of the people they had hit with the van before heading to Borough Market, where the pubs and restaurants were packed with Saturday night crowds, including many watching the Champions League final between Juventus and Real Madrid in Cardiff.
As the Prime Minister delivered a stark assessment of the threat facing the UK, US President Donald Trump, in a series of early morning tweets, lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan for his response to the attack, and said it is time to “stop being politically correct” about terrorism.
However, the president’s criticism of Mr Khan for suggesting Londoners should not be “alarmed” was based on a clear misinterpretation of some of the mayor’s comments.