Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly London attack; Prime Minister Theresa May declares ‘enough is enough’

Daily News

ISIS claimed responsibility Sunday for the London attack that left seven people dead and dozens injured as British Prime Minister Theresa May declared “enough is enough.”Police arrested 12 people as part of a growing investigation into the three terrorists who used a van and large knives to turn a balmy evening into a bloodbath. The Islamic State declared online that its “fighters” had carried out the attack, according to the SITE intelligence group.Authorities were racing to determine if the attackers, who were killed by police, had accomplices.

May also warned that the country faced a new threat from copycat terrorist attacks. The country has suffered three horrific attacks already this year.

London attacker shot by police was wearing fake explosive vest

On May 22, a suicide bomber blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22, many of the victims teens and one just 8 years old. A vehicle and knife attack on Westminster Bridge in March left five people dead.

“While we have made significant progress in recent years, there is, to be frank, far too much tolerance of extremism in our country,” May said.

“We believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face,” she added, saying “terrorism breeds terrorism.”

Five credible terrorist plots have been disrupted since March, she said.

Trump blasts London mayor on Twitter after attack

Police officers escort a woman to a van after raids in Barking, east London.

Police officers escort a woman to a van after raids in Barking, east London.

(REUTERS/Hannah McKay)

“It is time to say, enough is enough,” May said.

The prime minister called for internet companies to regulate extremism, but said “safe spaces in the real world” needed to be rooted out, too.

“That will require some difficult, and often embarrassing, conversations,” she said. She vowed the United Kingdom’s general election set for Thursday will go ahead as planned.

President Trump, meanwhile, fired off three tweets criticizing London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Trump sends tone-deaf travel ban tweet amid London Bridge terror

“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’” Trump tweeted. Khan actually said people should not be alarmed by the increased police presence on the streets.

Khan’s spokesman replied he had “more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet.”

Trump effectively pivoted from his string of tone-deaf tweets dispatched on Saturday and Sunday while addressing the Ford’s Theatre Annual Gala.

British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the media on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May addresses the media on Sunday.

(Leon Neal/Getty Images)

“This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end,” Trump said. “As president I will do what is necessary is to prevent this threat from spreading to our shores.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) vowed the U.S. would support England in the fight against terrorism — but that Trump could do more.

“Amazingly, with terrorism on the rise, President Trump actually proposed cutting vital anti-terrorism funding in his budget last week,” Schumer said. “Given what has happened in Europe we are calling on the President to immediately abandon these proposed cuts.”

The dozen arrests on Sunday and Monday occurred in Barking, east of London, the Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement. The suspects were five men and seven women, between the ages of 19 and 60.

A 55-year-old man was arrested and released without charges, police said.

Neighbors at the site of one raid said a man who lived there resembled one of the attackers shown in news photographs.

“He’s one of our neighbors. I’ve said hello in passing more than 50, 60 occasions. He has two young kids. He was a very nice guy,” Damien Pettit said.

The identities of the attackers have not been revealed.

Another home was raided in Newham on Monday morning and police said a number of people were taken into custody.

They plowed a van into pedestrians at busy London Bridge, then attacked people at nearby Borough Market before being shot dead by police.

“They went ‘This is for Allah,’ and they had a woman on the floor. They were stabbing her,” witness Gerard Vowls said.

Florin Morariu, a Romanian chef who works in the Bread Ahead bakery, said he saw people running and some fainting.

Then two people approached another person and “began to stick the knife in … and then I froze and I didn’t know what to do,” he said.

Morariu hit one attacker in the head with a bread basket.

Police forensics investigators work on London Bridge after an attack left seven people dead and dozens injured in London.

Police forensics investigators work on London Bridge after an attack left seven people dead and dozens injured in London.

(DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS)

“There was a car with a loudspeaker saying ‘go, go’ and they (police) threw a grenade … and then I ran,” he said.

The trio of terrorists wore suicide belts that were later revealed to be fakes.

Officers killed the attackers within eight minutes of arriving at the scene, police said.

Police gunfire accidentally left a bystander with noncritical injuries, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said, describing an “unprecedented” 50 rounds fired by eight officers.

“There is clearly more to do, and we will work relentlessly to get to the facts,” he said.

An off-duty British Transport Police officer — who confronted the knife-wielding attackers armed only with a baton — was among the injured, officials said.

“Although he is seriously unwell, he was able to recount how he faced the attackers armed only with his baton, outside London Bridge station,” Chief Constable Paul Crowther said.

With News Wire Services 

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