One of the London Bridge terrorists tried to recruit children to join Islamic State and was twice reported to police over his extremist views, it was claimed yesterday.
The Pakistani-born radical, who grew up in Britain, was named by relatives as one of three men who carried out a car and knife rampage in the heart of London on Saturday night — the third Islamist attack on British soil in two and a half months.
Addressing the nation, Theresa May declared that it was time to say “enough is enough”, adding: “When it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.”
Among the dead were a Canadian woman named last night as Christine Archibald, from British Columbia, and a man aged 27 from St Malo in Brittany who was working in the Boro Bistro near the attack in the busy Borough Market area. Bystanders who tried in vain to save the life of a blonde victim in her twenties said that the killers looked “brain-dead” as they stabbed her repeatedly.
Police say they have identified the attackers and will release their names “as soon as operationally possible”.
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It was claimed that the Pakistani-born man, in his 20s, whom The Times is not identifying after a Metropolitan Police request, was twice reported to the force about concerns over his radicalisation before he took part in the attack in which seven people died and scores were gravely injured.
One man reported him to police after learning that he had accessed the online rants of a radical American preacher, he said, and an east London housewife said that she told officers last summer of her fears about his recruitment of local schoolchildren. A teenager who went to the same gym as the killer in Barking, east London, also said that he had approached him to join Isis.
The allegations will add to pressure on police and the intelligence services after claims that they were warned about Salman Abedi, the 22-year-old Manchester suicide bomber. MI5 is reviewing missed chances to stop Abedi before he killed 22 people at a pop concert last month. Police said that there had been no reports to the counterterrorism hotline.
In the latest attack, the three terrorists used a rented white van to ram into pedestrians on London Bridge at up to 50mph. They attacked indiscriminately, shouting: “This is for Allah!” Last night 36 people were in hospital of whom 21 were critical. It is feared that the death toll will rise. In other developments:
•Armed police launched raids in Barking, east London, as they hunted alleged accomplices. A 38-year-old woman was arrested at one address, while at a second property a further 11 people, including six women aged from 19 to 60, were held. A 55-year-old man has since been released without charge.
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•The prime minister said that Thursday’s election would go ahead but a vast deployment of police is expected.
•It emerged that armed officers brought the incident to a close within eight minutes by shooting dead all three terrorists. A member of the public was shot in the head but their condition is not believed to be life-threatening.
Mark Rowley, an assistant commissioner and the Met’s head of counterterrorism, said that eight police officers fired 50 rounds to bring the suspects down. He hailed the bravery of marksmen who identified and shot dead the terrorists within minutes. The attackers wore fake suicide vests, possibly to ensure that they would be killed.
Mr Rowley said: “The situation these officers were confronted with was critical. A matter of life and death, three armed men wearing what appeared to be suicide belts. They had already attacked and killed members of the public . . . the firearms officers fired an unprecedented number of rounds to be completely confident they had neutralised those threats.”
Last night, Islamic State claimed responsibility. “A detachment of Islamic State fighters executed yesterday’s London attack,” a statement said.
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The organisation used an encrypted messaging channel to call on extremists to target markets and run over civilians hours before the attack. A poster in Arabic and English featured a handgun, a knife, and a lorry, reading “gain benefit from Ramadan”, the holy month that began on May 26, and “kill civilians of the crusaders, run over them by vehicles”. Similar calls to arms were posted on YouTube. The terrorist threat level remains at severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.