A man wearing a hoax bomb vest stabbed two people to death on Friday before being shot dead by the police on the London bridge. Three more people were injured by the stabbing.
"At approximately 2 pm today, police were called to a stabbing at premises near London Bridge. Emergency services attended including officers from the City of London Police and Metropolitan Police. A male suspect was shot by specialist armed officers from the city of London police and I can confirm that this suspect died at the scene," Basu, Britain's senior-most counter-terrorism officer, told reporters.
?Later, the MET identified the London Bridge attacker as Usman Khan, a 28-year-old man released from prison on parole in 2018 after spending eight years in jail for terrorism offences.?
During the attack, Londoners showed extreme courage and 'breathtaking heroism' in disarming a knife-wielding attacker after they intervened to stop the attack. They were praised by the politicians.?
Picture Courtesy: AFP
There are videos doing rounds on social media, shows people tackling the attacker to the ground, before being moved away by the police who then shot him dead.?
In a video, a man can be seen retrieving a knife from the ground before urging the bystanders to get away. George Robarts, who was present at the bridge at that time, said that the man jumped the central partition to tackle the attacker with several people. 'We ran away but looks like he disarmed him,' he said in a tweet. 'Amazing bravery.' Other Twitter users also praised the man.
"I ... want to pay tribute to the extraordinary bravery of those members of the public who physically intervened to protect the lives of others," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said. "For me, they represent the very best of our country and I thank them on behalf of all of our country."
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also said that the people who confronted the attacker may not have known that the bomb device that was strapped to his body was a hoax.
?"What's remarkable about the images we've seen is the breath-taking heroism of members of the public who literally ran towards danger not knowing what confronted them. They really are the best of you," Khan told reporters.
We salute the courage and spirit of Londoners!