Three men wearing fake suicide bomb vests struck at the heart of the capital after driving a van into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing bystanders in a bloody rampage.
In an attack lasting little over eight minutes, the gang allegedly screamed “this is for Allah” before killing seven and injuring up to 48 people.
All three were shot dead by armed cops.
Here’s everything we know about the London Bridge terrorists so far…
Where were they from?
The attackers are believed to be from Barking, east London, while Gardai, Irish Police, revealed one of the three had an Irish ID card.
According to neighbours, one of the dead attackers lived there for about three years and was married with two children.
He was described as being “well liked” by neighbours.
People living in King Road were awoken on Sunday morning by armed police raiding a block of flats in connection with the atrocity.
Armed police swooped on the property at around 7am this morning and it is believed that four men were arrested – while a woman was taken away in an ambulance.
Police are still currently on the scene and for the past hour builders have been erecting scaffolding at the back of a ground floor flat.
Around 50 residents gathered outside the block, watching the scaffolding being erected.
Who is ‘Abs’ the Arsenal fan?
A harrowing image of a dead terrorist was seen to be wearing a blue 2011/12 Arsenal away shirt under a fake suicide bomber vest.
One local, who asked not to be named, said he’d seen one of the dead killers wearing an Arsenal shirt earlier on Sunday.
He said: “I looked on Twitter and saw one of the terrorists who had been shot by police and he looked 90 per cent like my neighbour – he was even wearing the same Arsenal shirt that I had seen him in at 5pm that evening.”
The man wearing the football shirt is named locally as “Abs”.
He was said to have often hosted barbecues and bought sweets for local children.
Reported to be the the ‘ringleader’ of the attacker, he had previously taken part in a Channel 4 documentary about jihadis in the UK last year.
In 2016, he appeared in the documentary alongside a notorious preacher as they prayed to an Islamic State flag in a London park.
According to The Sun, his sister was held by police following an operation in East Ham.
Her husband said: “My wife was taken away by the police. I don’t know anything.
“We haven’t been told what’s going on. We just want ti grieve in peace.”
It is also reported the wife of ‘Abs’ had recently given birth to their second child.
One neighbour, who had seen the man in the local mosque on a number of occasions, said: ‘It is definitely him.
“I cannot understand why he would do something like this. He has a toddler and a baby, it’s madness.”
One suspect was ‘polite and normal’
On resident said: “He lived there for about three years and would often have barbecues and would play football with the kids in the street.
“Whenever it was sunny he would come out and buy ice creams for the children.
“I cannot believe that it is him.”
Sharmine Thomas, 50, added: “He used to help me with my shopping.
“He was a lovely guy.”
Several residents also pointed to a small red Peugeot 1007 car and identified it as belonging to ‘Abs’.
A small baby car seat can be seen in the back.
Did the attackers use a Hertz hire van to carry out the atrocity?
Another neighbour in Barking said one of the attackers, a man believed to be of Pakistani origin, had recently asked him where he could hire a van.
Ken Chigbo told Sky News that he quizzed him about the van he was using to move house and where he could get one for himself.
Chigbo, who spoke with the attacker on Saturday, said: “We were having a general conversation because I am in the process of moving house at the moment.
“I had a big van up here and he came up to me and said, ‘Oh, Ken, you are moving’. He was usually a really nice, friendly guy but this time it was on a different level of nice.
“It was quite strange and hard to put into words.
“He was asking me where I am moving to, and then he started asking about the van.
“He said to me, ‘Oh, where did you get your van, Ken? How much is it, is it possible to get in automatic?’ – all these specific questions about the van, which obviously now makes sense in my head.
“At the time I didn’t think anything of it.”
Neighbours speak out about ‘concerning’ behaviour
Residents on an estate in Barking, where one of the attacker’s lived, told how he would take children to the park and discuss Islam with them.
Mum Erica Gasparri reported her concerns to the police in 2015 after her son came home one day and told her: “Mummy, I want to become a Muslim”.
Other neighbours described how the jihadist would take children to the park and preach to them about Islam.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, one father said: “He was approaching my kid and giving him chocolate and taking him to the park.
“My wife reported him to the police and reported him as someone who had only one view.
“He was always strict about religion.
“He would say, ‘I need to tell you one thing, good luck for your life, but you need to become Muslim’.”
“There was no sign he was going to do such a madness thing like this.”
The jihadist had invited neighbours to a barbecue days before the attack.
Speaking to the Daily Star, another neighbour said: “He was acting strange yesterday. He was nicer than normal.
“Last week he invited me to a barbecue. I knew he lectured people on the Koran and there were always people dressed in robes coming in and out of his apartment.
One attacker thrown from mosque
Another Barking resident resident described how one of the terrorists, thought to be Abs, was thrown out of a mosque for arguing with an imam over his views, reports the Metro.
The jihadist had been removed from the Jabir Bin Zyad mosque after questioning the imam during a service and claiming voting in a general election was “un-islamic”.
Salahudee Jayabdeen said: “It was about two months ago and he started questioning what the imam was saying.
“I can’t remember exactly what it was about but was asked to leave. He didn’t want to and was forcibly taken out.”
The Sun reports another source from the mosque said: “He had no special friends there. He would arrive, pray and then leave.
“He seemed an uneducated person who had no knowledge of religion.”
They wore fake suicide vests
The London Bridge terrorists wore fake suicide vests as they mowed down and stabbed pedestrians.
Cannisters were found strapped to their chests – thought to be an attempt to ward off cops shooting them.
But Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said suspicions that explosives were involved had been ruled out.
He added: “The suspects were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes.”
The bodies of the attackers were pictured outside the Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market.
Gabriele Sciotto, who took the photograph of the bodies, told the BBC: “I ran towards the scene, noticed these men with explosive looking belts on their chests.
“They were running and police officers were trying to put themselves between the men and the crowd. Police ran towards them, more police came, and in a few seconds after a radio call, they shot three men down.
“The canisters didn’t look real, they looked like toys.”
Attackers shouted ‘this is for Allah’ as they stabbed victims
Bystander Gerard Vowles said he heard the terrorists invoking the name of Allah as they knifed a girl in the street.
He told the BBC: “I saw a geezer lying on the floor saying he’d been stabbed.
“I saw these three Muslim guys run up with knives, they ran up and started stabbing this girl. I was defenceless, I couldn’t do nothing.
“They were stabbing everyone.”
“They were running up and going ‘this is for Allah’.”
“The run up and stabbed this girl – I don’t know how many times – 10 times, maybe 15 times.”
They ran people over on London Bridge before stabbing people
Armed police and ambulances were called to reports of a white van mounting the pavement and hitting several people on London Bridge at 10.08pm on Saturday.
The vehicle crashed near the Barrowboy and Banker pub, at the southern end of the bridge, where the suspects got out and ran the short distance to Borough Market.
The three men appear to have stabbed people at random in the market before rampaging through the area, entering the many pubs and restaurants to stab anyone in sight.
Terrorists targeted people in bars and restaurants
Terrified witnesses described the knifeman storming packed restaurants and slashing at diners during the chaos.
The men armed with 12inch blades reportedly ran into the Black & Blue steak restaurant and started stabbing randomly.
At the Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market attackers were said to have targeted drinkers.
At least one person is believed to have been stabbed in the doorway of the Southwark Tavern in Southwark Street.
Drinkers are said to have thrown chairs and glasses at the attacker as he stormed the pub. Video shows drinkers in the basement German-themed bar Katzenjammers hiding under tables as the terror attack unfolded around them.
Jamie, a witness who was in Black & Blue in Rochester Walk said: “We hid under the table and people came into the restaurant and knocked a bunch of stuff over, like the till.
“And then we ran into the the kitchen, where there was a bunch of other people and a guy had been stabbed and he was cut and he was bleeding quite a lot.”
Gerard Vowls, 47, who was in a pub near London Bridge, said he threw chairs and glasses at the attackers in a bid to stop them entering.
He told The Guardian: “They kept coming to try to stab me – they were stabbing everyone.
“Evil, evil people.”
