Prime Minister Theresa May said police are investigating a “potential terrorist attack” after a van plowed into pedestrians outside a North London mosque.
At least one person died and 10 were injured after a vehicle was driven into a crowd of people in Finsbury Park following prayers just after midnight on Monday morning, police said in a statement. The 48-year-old driver was arrested and taken to hospital.
“This was clearly a deliberate attack on innocent Londoners, many of whom were finishing prayers during the holy month of Ramadan,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a statement.
If confirmed as terrorism, the attack would be the fourth on the country in as many months, and the third involving a vehicle. It’s the latest to hit a country traumatized by two vehicle-and-knife attacks in London, a bombing in Manchester and a city coping with the aftermath of last week’s deadly tower block inferno. It also adds to the list of challenges for May as she battles to show she can lead the country 10 days after her disastrous election result.
May will hold a meeting of her emergency Cobra committee on Monday morning, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said in BBC television interview. The Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation, according to the police statement. No other suspects at the scene were identified or reported to police.
“It’s an absolutely disgusting act of violence,” Gove said. “These were people who were at a place of worship. It should be absolutely sacrosanct.”
‘Cowardly Attack’
One witness told the BBC that the man who jumped out of the van was shouting that he wanted to kill all Muslims. The mosque expressed anger that the attack was initially described by police as an “incident.”
It was “a cowardly attack which is no different than the attacks in Manchester and London,”Mosque Chairman Mohammed Kozbar said in a statement. “Our community is in shock, our thoughts and prayer with those who have been affected by this.”
Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn, who represents the area in Parliament, said in a statement that he and Islington Council leader Richard Watts met with Muslim community leaders and will attend prayers at the mosque later on Monday.
In March, an attacker plowed through pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing to death a policeman inside the gates of Parliament. A suicide bomber last month at a pop concert in the northern English city of Manchester killed 22 people, including children. And in the days before the June 8 election, several people died and dozens were injured when three men plowed into pedestrians on London Bridge before embarking on a stabbing spree in central London. All three attacks were carried out by Islamist extremists.
The incident at Finsbury Park Mosque “would appear to have been a revenge attack,” Opposition Labour Party Trade Spokesman Barry Gardiner told BBC TV. “That’s precisely the objective of terrorists: they want to divide us.
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