London terror attacks: Police make 12 arrests; PM May says 'enough is enough', vows to fight 'evil Islamist extremism'

ANI Pic

London: The British Police have confirmed of arresting 12 persons in connection with the terror attacks at London Bridge and nearby areas that killed seven people and injured dozens others.

"Officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command have this morning, Sunday 4 June, arrested 12 people in Barking, east London, in connection with last night's incidents in London Bridge and the Borough Market area. Searches of a number of addresses in Barking are continuing," London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

12 arrests in connection with last night's attacks in #LondonBridge & #BoroughMarket https://t.co/JCGAWuNpO9 pic.twitter.com/T1SLWAkKF4 — Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) June 4, 2017

A white van hit pedestrians on London Bridge last night, then three men got out and stabbed people in nearby Borough Market.

It is the third terror attack in the UK in three months, following the car and knife attack in Westminster in March, which left five people dead, and the Manchester bombing less than two weeks ago, in which 22 people were killed.

Meanwhile,  British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday announced that the June 8 General Election will go ahead as planned despite another terrorist attack in London as she blamed the "evil ideology of Islamist extremism" for the three terror attacks in the country.

Speaking outside Downing Street after she chaired the emergency COBRA meeting with senior security chiefs, May said, "Violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process."

She said "it is time to say enough is enough" as she condemned the terror attack on "innocent and unarmed civilians"  on London Bridge and Borough Market area of the city.

She said the recent terror attacks in Britain, while not directly linked, "are bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamist extremism," as per PTI.

"It is an ideology that is a perversion of Islam and a perversion of the truth. Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time."

"We believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face as terrorism breeds terrorism," she said.

The PM said attacks are now inspired "by copying one another and often using the crudest of means of attack".

"We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are," she said.

She revealed that the UK's security and intelligence services have disrupted "five credible plots" since the Parliament attack in London in March.

The British Prime Minister announced that she plans to review the UK's counter-terror legislation.

The four important ways which May said needs to be changed were:

· Defeating the extreme Islamist ideology by maintenance of a counter-terrorism operation and by persuading people that 'pluralistic British values' are superior.

· By not giving the terrorists safe space online for the plotting of terror attacks.

· There must be action at home.

· To review the counter-terrorism strategy, to ensure the police have the powers they need, as per ANI.

In reference to the elections, she said that national campaigning will resume tomorrow, adding: "We will come together and, united, we will take on our enemies."

Enough is enough. Read my response to last night’s brutal terror attack: https://t.co/MHQ4SPG0aQ — Theresa May (@theresa_may) June 4, 2017

(With Agency inputs)