London' s police counterterrorism chief says the public should expect to see increased security measures as authorities investigate the latest attack to strike Britain.
London’s police counterterrorism chief says the public should expect to see increased security measures as authorities investigate the latest attack to strike Britain. Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said Sunday that police need to establish whether others were involved in planning Saturday night’s vehicle and knife attack on London Bridge and at nearby restaurants. Seven people were killed in the attack and 21 are in critical condition. Rowley says police are confident that the three men fatally shot by officers in the minutes after the assault were the only attackers, but there is « clearly more to do » in the investigation. He says the white van they used to mow down pedestrians on London Bridge was rented by one of the men. Security cordons will remain around London Bridge indefinitely. London’s assistant police commissioner says eight police officers fired « an unprecedented number » of bullets at the three men suspected of carrying out the attack on London Bridge and at nearby restaurants. Assistant Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said during a news conference on Sunday that the officers fired 50 rounds at the men, striking and wounding a member of the public in the process. Rowley says the injured civilian’s injuries are not believed to be critical and there will be an independent investigation. The attackers were shot dead. Rowley says they had « already killed members of the public and had to be stopped immediately. »British Prime Minister Theresa May has paid a private visit to some of the victims of the vehicle and knife attacks in central London. May visited King’s College Hospital, which is caring for 14 of the 48 people hospitalized after the Saturday night attacks on London Bridge and at nearby restaurants. The National Health Service says 21 people remain in critical condition. A van mowed down pedestrians on the bridge before its occupants got out and started stabbing people. Police shot three attackers dead. Hundreds ran for their lives in the chaos. Former Secretary of State John Kerry says Britons are going to have to sort out whether tolerance of extremism has gone on for too long, as British Prime Minister Theresa May has said. Kerry tells NBC’s « Meet the Press » that « a lot of ingredients » went into the attacks on London Bridge and at nearby restaurants Saturday night that left seven dead and nearly two dozen injured. Twelve people have been arrested. He says one of the issues the country needs to get a handle on is the experience of Muslim residents, who’ve « had a long-standing problem with respect to greater levels of alienation, a harder time assimilating into the broader British society. »Kerry says the answer lies in building community to lessen the distance between governments and their people, a gap he thinks is a problem « all over the world. »
