Attacker known to security services

Two of the London Bridge terrorists have been named by police as it emerged one of the attackers was known to security services.

Khuram Shazad Butt, a 27-year-old British citizen born in Pakistan, and Rachid Redouane, who claimed to be Moroccan-Libyan, carried out the deadly assault in which seven people died and dozens more were injured on Saturday night.

Officers at Scotland Yard said they are working to identify the third accomplice, while 12 people who were arrested in east London in the wake of the murderous rampage have been released without charge.

Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said Butt was known to the security services but there was no evidence of “attack planning” by him.

Butt, who reportedly went by the name Abu Zaitun, was known to neighbours by the nickname “Abs/z” and was allegedly an associate of radical hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

He was on the radar of the police and MI5, and was reported to anti-terror hotline by a concerned member of the public

Security sources in Ireland confirmed Redouane, 30, married a British woman in Dublin in 2012 and lived in the Rathmines area of the city.

It is believed he used Irish jurisdiction to get a European Union permit which allowed him to be in the UK.

During the eight-minute long slaughter, the three knifemen ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge using a van and went on to stab people in Borough Market with 12-inch knives.

The attackers, wearing fake suicide vests, were shot dead after police unleashed a hail of 50 bullets at them.

Thirty-six people remain in London hospitals, with 18 in a critical condition.

Londoner James McMullan, 32, and 30-year-old Canadian Christine Archibald were the first victims killed in the attack to be named.

An unnamed French national also died in the rampage, with two others missing.

Yesterday, a crowd of all ages and races stood quietly for an impeccably observed minute’s silence at a vigil (pictured inset) a short walk away from the scene of Saturday’s bloodshed.

The Islamic State terror group, also known as Daesh, has claimed responsibility for the London Bridge rampage.

Two of the London Bridge terrorists have been named by police as Rachid Redouane (left) and Khuram Shazad Butt.