12 Arrested After Van, Knife Attack Kills 7
Twelve people have been arrested after the London terror attack which left seven people dead and 48 injured.
The arrests in Barking, east London, followed a raid at a flat belonging to one of the three attackers. A van hit pedestrians on London Bridge on Saturday. Three men then got out and stabbed people in nearby Borough Market.
The attackers were shot dead by eight officers who fired 50 bullets. A member of the public was accidentally shot. Of the 12 people who were arrested, seven are women. A 55-year-old man was later released without charge. Meanwhile, Canadian national Chrissy Archibald has been named by Canadian broadcaster CTV as the first victim of the attack.
Range of injuries
The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the Police had reacted knowing the attackers “had to be stopped immediately”.
“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,” he said.
The vests were later found to be hoaxes. Mr Rowley said 36 people were in hospital with a “range of injuries” and 21 were in a critical condition.
Controlled explosions were carried out at the flat in Barking during the raids on Sunday morning. According to neighbours, the dead attacker lived there for about three years and was married with two children. One man, who did not want to be named, told the BBC’s Asian Network that one of the attackers had become more extreme over the past two years.
“We spoke about a particular attack that happened and like most radicals he had a justification for anything - everything and anything. And that day I realised that I need to contact the authorities,” he said.
He said no action was taken.
“I did my bit... but the authorities didn’t do their bit,” he said.
It is the third terror attack in the UK in three months, following the car and knife attack in Westminster in March, in which five people were killed, and the Manchester bombing less than two weeks ago, in which 22 people were killed.
Most political parties have suspended national general election campaigning, but the Prime Minister said full campaigning would resume on Monday.
The general election will go ahead as planned on Thursday. Condemning the attack, Theresa May said it was “time to say enough is enough”.
Speaking in Downing Street after a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee, the Prime Minister said the country “cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are”. Mrs May said there was “too much tolerance of extremism in our country” and while it would involve “some difficult and embarrassing conversations”, that must change.
In a speech, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn backed the Police to use “whatever force is necessary” to save lives.