UK PM decries ‘too much tolerance of extremism’ after deadly terror attack

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Amer Ghazzal / Barcroft Media / Barcroft Media via Getty Images(LONDON) — British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a “much more robust approach to dealing with extremism” on Monday after Saturday’s deadly terrorist attack in London that killed seven people and injured dozens more.

The prime minister made the remarks in response to questions from reporters after a campaign speech in central London on Monday.

May hailed police actions in response to Saturday’s attacks, which she said “saved countless lives,” but said, “We have seen overall too much tolerance of extremism in this country,” and repeated her call for a commission to take up “the necessary task of stamping out extremism.”

May held an emergency meeting earlier Monday to organize the government’s response to the attack, the third deadly terrorist event to hit the U.K. in less than three months.

London police search two addresses near site of previous raids

Early Monday, the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command conducted an operation near Barking, the site of previous raids, where they searched two addresses and detained “a number of people” for questioning.

Twelve people have been arrested in connection with the attack, police said. Authorities are now trying to “piece together exactly what occurred” and learn more about the attackers, Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said Sunday. Of the 12, seven were women, police said, adding that 11 of the arrests happened at a single address.

“Work is ongoing to understand more about them, their connections and whether they were assisted or supported by anyone else,” Rowley said. “[W]e will release the identities of the three men directly responsible for the attacks yesterday, Saturday, 3 June, as soon as operationally possible.”

Police response hailed as ‘extraordinary’ and ‘utterly heroic’

Authorities have identified the three suspects in the attack, but have opted to keep their names private for now, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said in an interview with BBC Radio on Monday.

Dick declined to say whether their names had been placed on the country’s terrorist watch list, but she stated again that authorities had foiled five terror plots in recent weeks.

The commissioner called the police response to the attack “extraordinary” after officers reportedly arrived on scene and shot the three attackers to death within eight minutes of receiving an emergency call, but said that police need to “step up” their response in the wake of multiple terror attacks.

Police shot and killed the three attackers in Borough Market, where several victims were stabbed, after firing 50 rounds of gunfire.

Dick went on to describe what she called the “utterly heroic” actions of an off-duty officer who was having a drink with friends at Borough Market and “dived in” to help “without hesitation” and was severely injured as a result. She said members of the public performed first aid on the officer before he was taken to the hospital where he remains in serious condition.

Three deadly terror attacks in under three months

Saturday’s deadly attack marked Britain’s third such incident since March.

It comes in the wake of a suicide bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester on May 22 that killed 22.

A separate vehicle ramming attack in March on Westminster Bridge left four dead including the suspect.

London Bridge partially reopens as injured victims struggle to recover

In a sign that life in the city was slowly returning to its normal routines, the London Bridge partially reopened to traffic on Monday. The bridge had been closed since police shut it down in the midst of the attack on Saturday.

More than 30 victims remained hospitalized as of Sunday, with 21 of them in critical condition, police said. Some of those injured are foreign nationals, according to authorities. Forty-eight people were injured in total.

The French embassy in London announced, “We are very sad to report the death of one French citizen in the London attack,” adding that seven more “compatriots” were in the hospital, four of whom were in serious condition, with one additional person missing.

The nearby London Bridge rail station also reopened after police cordons around it “were lifted earlier than expected,” according to transportation officials, but police said the public should expect to see extra officers on duty during Monday’s commute.

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