One dead, several injured after car hits pedestrians in London

A lorry has killed one person and injured eight others after it ploughed into pedestrians in Finsbury Park, London police said. An investigation is underway into the cause of the incident and whether it was a terrorist attack.

June has been a dark month for London. Earlier this month, seven people were killed and dozens injured in a deadly attack claimed by the Islamic State (formerly ISIS), and last week, dozens died in the Grenfell Tower fire in the British capital.

Now, London police have announced that a bloody incident took place near a mosque in Finsbury Park, a predominantly Muslim neighborhood in north London, at midnight on Sunday (June 18).

Police officers were notified at 20 minutes past midnight that a truck had crashed into a group of pedestrians on Seven Sisters Street, killing one person and injuring eight others.

CNN reported, citing multiple witnesses, that three people got out of the car after the incident, one of whom was arrested. Police have cordoned off the surrounding area, including the area around Finsbury Park train station.

Beginning of the investigation

Investigations and investigations are underway to clarify the details of this event, as well as the possibility that it was a terrorist attack, and British counterterrorism experts are also participating in it.

It is not yet clear whether the deadly incident was a car accident or whether the car was deliberately driven into pedestrians. A mosque near the scene of the incident is said to be a gathering place for Islamists. Finsbury Park and the mosque are busy with worship during the holy month of Ramadan.

Haroon Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, wrote in a tweet that "a lorry has run over a number of Muslim worshippers who had just left a mosque" and that it was "a deliberate attack."

British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke of a "terrible incident" and expressed her condolences to the victims and their families. She also called an emergency meeting of her cabinet on Monday (June 19).

In the latest terrorist attack in London, which took place on June 3, three men drove a van into several people in central London and, after getting out of the vehicle, attacked passersby and guests of restaurants and cafes with knives.

All three perpetrators of the attack were killed during an operation by police and security officers.

In March this year, an Islamist drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London, killing two people and injuring several others. He then attacked an unarmed police officer on the grounds of Parliament and was eventually shot dead by security forces.

On May 22 of this year, 22 people lost their lives in a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester.

Source: DW