Terrorist Strike London Again! Van Attack At Mosque

19 Jun, 2017

A van slammed into worshippers near a mosque in London early Monday, killing one person and injuring 10 other people in what witnesses described as a deliberate attack on Muslims.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said police were investigating as a terrorist incident.

Police arrested a 48-year-old man suspected of driving the van into a group of people as they left the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London shortly after midnight. He was arrested after being detained by members of the public, the Metropolitan Police said.

The incident comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and follows three attacks in Britain in as many months. The other attacks were carried out by radicalized Muslims.

Police said Monday’s incident had all the “hallmarks” of terrorism. Meanwhile, May said in remarks outside her office in Downing Street that the attacker acted alone and that police responded within eight minutes.

May said her government would “stop at nothing” to defeat extremism.

May later visited the mosque, according to the Associated Press, meeting both with Muslims and representatives from a variety of faiths.

The quickly arranged visit, which came just over 12 hours after the incident, came after she received severe criticism for her response to a massive fire in a high-rise apartment block last week that left at least 79 people confirmed dead or missing.

The van’s driver, whose identity was not immediately released, was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police said all the victims were members of the Muslim community.

Eyewitness Abdul Rahman told the BBC that the driver of the van said that he wanted to “kill all Muslims.” Rahman told the British broadcaster that he hit the suspect and helped subdue him. “I hit him on his stomach … and then me and the other guys … we held him to the ground until he couldn’t move. We stopped him until the police came.”

Harun Khan, a leader of the Muslim Council of Britain, described the incident as a hate crime against Muslims and called for extra security around mosques.

“During the night, ordinary British citizens were set upon while they were going about their lives, completing their night worship,” he said. “It appears from eyewitness accounts that the perpetrator was motivated by Islamophobia.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to serve in that position, said that “while this appears to be an attack on a particular community, like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect.”

Police Commissioner Cressida Dick called for calm. “Extra officers are on duty in the area to help reassure the local community,” she said. “They will be there for as long as they are needed. Communities will see additional officers patrolling across the city and at Muslim places of worship.”

The Finsbury Park Mosque was associated with extremist ideology for several years after the 9/11 attacks in the United States but was shut down and reorganized. It has not been associated with radical views for more than a decade.

Earlier this month, a van plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge, after which three men entered a market and stabbed people. Eight people were killed and many wounded on the bridge and in the nearby Borough Market area. Three Muslim extremists who carried out the attack were killed by police. In late May, a suicide bomber killed more than 20 in Manchester at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.

Monday’s incident also comes as Britain was coming to terms with a fire at a residential tower block that left at least 79 dead or missing. Chronic mismanagement and disregard for fire safety measures by the building’s landlord is suspected in that case. That incident, plus the four attacks, have stretched British authorities and left May’s government, which suffered losses in a snap election, reeling.

“This attack comes at a difficult time for the city,” May said in her statement.

USA Today

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