LONDON — Seven people were killed, three attackers are dead and 48 victims have been transported to hospitals after a "brutal terrorist attack" in London Saturday night involving a vehicle plowing into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbings at Borough Market, officials said.
At a press conference Sunday morning, British Prime Minister Theresa May referred to the events as a "brutal terrorist attack" and the attackers as "terrorists." She added "there is far too much tolerance of extremism in our country."
A Canadian woman who was among the seven people killed has been identified by her family as Christine Archibald, 30.
France's foreign ministry has announced that a French citizen was among those killed and another remains missing. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that seven other French nationals are hospitalized, four of them in serious condition.
Australia's foreign minister said three Australians have been injured in the knife attacks at London Bridge and in London's Borough Market.
London Metropolitan Police announced on Sunday a series of arrests related to the attack. "Officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command have this morning, Sunday 4 June, arrested 12 people in Barking, east London, in connection with last night's incidents in London Bridge and the Borough Market area," read a statement. "Searches of a number of addresses in Barking are continuing.
The SITE Intelligence Group says Islamic State's news agency is claiming fighters for the extremist group carried out the knife attack.
TRENDING STORIES:
- Woman working at motorcycle race hit, killed
- Family, friends gather in Macon to say goodbye to Gregg Allman
- Have you seen this escaped inmate in Atlanta?
Police confirmed that law enforcement officers were injured in the line of duty. "Among those injured in the attack are a British Transport Police officer and an off-duty Metropolitan Police officer," read the statement. "Both remain in hospital with serious injuries but neither are believed to be in a life-threatening condition."
May took direct aim at Islamic extremism, saying, "While the attacks are not connected, they are connected in one important sense: they are bound together by the single evil ideology that is Islamic extremism. Defeating this ideology is one of the great challenges of our time."
May also cited the Internet as a breeding ground for extremism, saying "We cannot allow this ideology the safe space that allows it to breed."
At a press conference Sunday morning, London Metropolitan Commissioner Cressida Dick announced that the death toll had increased from 6 to 7. She added, "We believe there were 3 attackers and we believe they are dead."
Dick said police "believed" that the incident was under control, but a large police cordon remained in place in the area, south of the Thames, on Sunday. She police patrols will be increased in London, including those by armed officers.
Police said they responded to reports of a vehicle striking pedestrians on London Bridge at about 10:08 p.m. local time.
"The vehicle continued to drive from London Bridge to Borough Market," Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said. "The suspects then left the vehicle and a number of people were stabbed."
Armed officers confronted the three male suspects, who were shot and killed by authorities in Borough Market, Rowley said. It was eight minutes, from the moment police were notified about the attack to when the three men were killed, Dick said.
Police said the suspects were wearing fake explosive vests. Prime Minister May said police determined they were worn "to spread panic and fear."
The suspects were confronted and shot by the police within eight minutes of the first call, Rowley added.
BBC reporter Holly Jones, who was on London Bridge at the time of that incident, told the network that several people were hurt after a white van swerved and hit a crowd of people while it was crossing London Bridge.
"A white van driver came speeding -- probably about 50 mph -- veered off the road into the crowds of people who were walking along the pavement," she told BBC News. "He swerved right round me and then hit about five or six people. He hit about two people in front of me and then three behind. I'd say there are about four severely injured people. They all have paramedics assisting them at the moment."
One man told The Associated Press he was finishing dinner in Borough Market when a woman "came running in and said there was a person out there wielding some kind of knife ... The manager of the restaurant herded everybody together and took us upstairs to the staff quarters and we sat there for an hour and a half during which time we heard three separate volleys of gunfire, quite well-timed apart. They weren't very quick. There was one series, then another, then another."
Later the man said they were told to leave the restaurant. "We had to run out with our hands on our heads and just keep running," he told the AP.
The London Ambulance Service's assistant director of operations, Peter Rhodes, said in a statement early Sunday morning that 48 people were taken to five hospitals and that "a number of others" were treated at the scene for "minor injuries, all in connection with the London Bridge incident.
Rhodes added, "We sent over 80 of our medics to the scene including ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, specialist response teams and an advanced trauma team from London’s Air Ambulance."
At a press conference Sunday morning, London mayor Sadiq Khan said of those transported to hospitals, "some of them I'm afraid are critical." And Prime Minister May described some of the injured as having "life-threatening conditions."
He also said the number of casualties could have been higher had EMS workers not been so quick to respond. "The emergency services reacted heroically and brilliantly last night," Khan said. "Not only did they tackle the terrorist, but they helped the injured. And as a result of their swift action, fewer people have died than would otherwise have been the case, but also the severity of the injuries are less bad than they could have been."
Khan was asked if it was a mistake for the country's threat level to be reduced from critical to severe on May 27 in light of Saturday's attack. "No, I don’t think so," he said. "In the immediate days following the Manchester attack it was raised to critical because the police and experts were still pursuing lines of inquiries and they weren’t sure if any other people were involved in the attack at Manchester ... critical means an attack is imminent ... they’ve reduced it to severe but it's still a very high level. That means an attack is highly likely."
At her press conference, Prime Minister May said British law enforcement agencies had "disrupted five credible threats since the Westminster attack in March." May also said that Saturday's attack was not connected to recent terror incidents, which include attacks at Westminster and Manchester Arena.
British Transport Police said one of its officers is among the injured. The officer was one of the first to arrive at the London Bridge scene and his condition is characterized as serious but non-life-threatening, the British Transport Police said.
Police are urging the public to avoid London Bridge and Borough Market. Anyone with images or film of the incident is asked to upload them at www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk, police said.
A charity concert for victims of the Manchester attack, featuring Ariana Grande and other stars, is due to be held in the northwest English city on Sunday.
Grande, who visited victims of the Manchester attack in the hospital on Friday, found herself confronted with another terror attack.
She tweeted: "Praying for London."
Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez spoke to passengers Sunday night arriving in Atlanta from London following the attacks. Some were still trying to process the events.
"It's very scary because it doesn't matter where you are, it can happen anytime and anywhere," Marcos Salcedo said.
Salcedo was near where the incident happened.
"I was not far from where it happened. I was actually having dinner very close by," he said.
Some travelers said they were fearful following the events, but others said they will not let fear stop them from living their lives.
Associated Press writer Niko Price contributed to this report.