Islamic State jihadists claim London stabbing rampage
LONDON: The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Sunday for an attack by knife-wielding men who mowed down and stabbed revellers in London, killing seven people before being shot dead in a barrage of police gunfire.
Saturday night’s rampage at a popular nightlife hub around London Bridge by three men wearing fake suicide vests was the third deadly terror attack in Britain in less than three months and came only days before a general election.
“A detachment of fighters from Islamic State carried out London attacks yesterday,” said the Aamaq news agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic State group.
British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed “evil” Islamist ideology and vowed to crackdown on extremist content online worldwide, as police detained 11 people following two raids in east London.
National campaigning for Thursday’s vote was suspended for the day out of respect for the victims, who included 48 people treated in hospital for injuries.
Of those, 21 are still in a critical condition.
One Canadian national and one Frenchman were among the fatalities and seven French citizens were among the injured.
No details have been released about the perpetrators, who were shot dead within minutes by police.
Eight officers fired an “unprecedented” 50 rounds at the three attackers, according to Mark Rowley, head of national counter-terrorism policing, who said that a member of the public also suffered a gunshot wound.
Detectives were still investigating whether the assailants acted alone, and Rowley said their identities would be released “as soon as operationally possible”.
Police launched raids in the ethnically diverse London suburb of Barking in the hours after the rampage, arresting seven women and five men aged between 19 and 60 at two properties.
A 55-year-old man was later released. – AFP
