On Friday afternoon, a terrorist attacked unsuspecting pedestrians on London Bridge, stabbing to death two civilians before being killed by law enforcement officers.
As of now, the identity of the perpetrator remains unknown.
Neil Basu, the Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations and chief of British Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Policing, said that Metropolitan Police is still looking to pinpoint the motive behind the attack.
You've reached your daily free article limit.
Subscribe and support our veteran writing staff to continue reading.
On Friday afternoon, a terrorist attacked unsuspecting pedestrians on London Bridge, stabbing to death two civilians before being killed by law enforcement officers.
As of now, the identity of the perpetrator remains unknown.
Neil Basu, the Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations and chief of British Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Policing, said that Metropolitan Police is still looking to pinpoint the motive behind the attack.
In a press statement, Assistant Commissioner Basu said that “a male suspect was shot by specialist armed officers from City of London police and I can confirm that this suspect died at the scene.”
Metropolitan police has placed a wide cordon around the incident area to ensure security.
“Officers continue to carry out extensive searches in the area to ensure there is no further threat to the public. Extensive cordons will remain in place for considerable time.”
The dead terrorist wore a suicide vest. But it later became known that it was fake.
“I can confirm that at this time,” added the British law enforcement official, “[that] we believe a device that was strapped to the body of the suspect is a hoax explosive device. Officers continue to carry out meticulous searches in the area to ensure there is no outstanding threat to the public.”
Finally, the Assistant Commissioner added that “I would ask anyone with information, image or footage of the incident that this be shared with our investigation team to do so on the UK Police Image appeal website. I would also ask the public to “continue to remain vigilant and report any concerns they have to police.”
This isn’t the first terrorist act to take place on British soil. In 2005, the London subway attacks left 52 people dead and more than 700 hundred injured.
And since 2017, the U.K. has suffered four terrorist attacks. In March 2017, three people were killed and 29 injured when a terrorist drove his car over pedestrians in Westminster Bridge and outside the British parliament. In May 2017, a suicide bomber targeted a concert in Manchester. The explosion killed 22 and injured more than 139 people, most of them children and adolescents departing the concert. In June 2017, a van with three terrorists drove over pedestrians strolling across London Bridge, and then the three terrorists began a stabbing spree before they were neutralized by law enforcement officers.
Join SOFREP for insider access and analysis.
TRY 14 DAYS FREEAlready a subscriber? Log In
COMMENTS
You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article.