Britain has been rocked by yet another devastating act of terrorism, the third in three months. Seven people were killed and 48 more were injured when car plowed through pedestrians on London Bridge Saturday before three men jumped out of the vehicle, armed with large knives, and began stabbing people in the nearby Borough Market. Armed officers killed all three attackers while they perpetrated the attack within eight minutes of the first emergency call to authorities, reported British officials.
Recently, authorities have identified Pakistani-born Kharun Butt, 27, Rachid Redouane, 30, both of Barking and 22-year-old Moroccan-Italian Youssef Zaghba as the three attackers. A day after the attack, 12 people were arrested in connection to the incident, but have all been released without charges, according to BBC. On Tuesday, a 27-year-old man was arrested in Barking in connection with the attack, but details as to his alleged involvement have not been released.
The deadly attack came only two weeks after a suicide bomber detonated himself in front of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. Many of those killed by the attack were children, and 116 were injured, reported numerous news outlets. Britain was on “severe” threat level following the bombing, but downgraded the threat level to “critical” just before the London Bridge attack.
The vehicular assault and the mayhem that ensued also took place only days before the British election, which is scheduled to take place on June 8.
Following the attack, British Prime Minister Theresa May and the opposing Labour Party suspended their campaigns for a full day, although the Labour Party stated that the suspension was out of respect of the victims of the attack.
May held a recent press conference and announced that the election will still take place on Thursday, as scheduled.
She held an emergency meeting with her cabinet of safety officials Sunday. Afterwards she released a statement calling for increased counterterrorism efforts, both online and in the country’s streets.
“Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would,” she said. “Our society should continue to function in accordance with our values. But when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.”
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan urged the citizens of London to be “calm and vigilante” in a press conference following the attack.
“We will never let these cowards win, and we will never be cowed by terrorism,” Khan said.
Khan’s address drew criticism from President Trump in a tweetstorm following the attack.
First, Trump shared condolences for the victims and tweeted “Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the UK, we will be there — WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!”
Trump then proceeded to condemn Khan, incorrectly, for saying that there was nothing to worry about, something Khan never said.
“At least seven dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” Trump tweeted.
On Tuesday, Khan said that Trump’s visit to Britain, scheduled to be October, should be canceled. He stated Trump “was wrong” about “many things” in a statement he made to numerous media outlets.
“I don’t think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for,” Khan told U.K. broadcaster Channel 4.
Statements of solidarity in support of London in from around the world including Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
