12 ARRESTED AFTER SEVEN KILLED IN LONDON

British Prime Minister Theresa May blamed “evil” Islamist ideology yesterday for an attack by knife-wielding men who mowed down and stabbed revellers in London. Seven people were killed, 48 injured and the police said they had arrested 12 suspects. Saturday night’s rampage at the popular nightlife hub around London Bridge, by three men arriving in a van and wearing fake suicide vests, was the third deadly terror attack in Britain in three months and came only days before Thursday’s general elections. Political parties promptly suspended campaigns  out of respect for the victims, who included 48 people treated in hospital, some of them in life-threatening conditions. No details have been released about the suspects, who were shot dead within minutes by police, and detectives are still investigating whether they acted alone. The 12 arrests were made in the ethnically diverse east London suburb of Barking, with Sky News reporting that a property raided by police belonged to one of the killers. May said the attack was driven by the same “evil ideology of Islamist extremism” behind last week’s Manchester suicide bombing that left 22 people dead, and the Westminster attack in March, which killed five. “The recent attacks are not connected but we believe we are experiencing a new trend in the threat we face,” she said after chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee. She warned that perpetrators are inspired to attack “by copying one another”. The assailants wore fake suicide vests in a bid to increase the sense of panic as they lunged seemingly at random at the crowds gathered around London Bridge and Borough Market, which is full of restaurants and bars. Gerard Vowls, 47, said he saw a woman repeatedly stabbed, and threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in a bid to stop them. “They kept coming to try to stab me… they were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people,” he told The press. Holly Jones, a BBC reporter, saw a white van speeding into crowds of people walking along the pavement on London Bridge, saying it hit about five or six people. Another witness called Eric told the BBC he had seen three men get out and thought they were going to help. Instead they “started kicking them, punching them and took out knives. It was a rampage really,” he said, adding that he heard a shout of: “This is for Allah”. An Australian and four French nationals were among those hospitalised, their governments said, while a Spaniard was slightly wounded. Britain was already on high alert following the attack on a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande in Manchester, northwest England, in which seven children were among the dead. Grande, who headlined a benefit concert in Manchester last night alongside stars including Pharrell Williams and Justin Bieber, tweeted that she was “Praying for London.” The national threat level was raised to maximum after the Manchester attack and troops were deployed at key public sites, but reduced to its second highest level last weekend. May, who served as interior minister for six years before taking office after the Brexit vote last summer, said Britain’s response to the terror threat must change. “We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are,” she said. She repeated calls for international action to combat extremist content online, a message she took to the G7 leaders summit last week. May also warned there was “far too much tolerance of extremism in our country”, promising to review counter-terrorism efforts, including possibly increasing the jail terms handed out in terror cases. The ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour party suspended national campaign events for the day, although local campaigning will continue. “But violence can never be allowed to disrupt the democratic process, so those campaigns will resume in full tomorrow and the general election will go ahead as planned on Thursday,” the prime minister said. Saturday’s rampage is the latest in a string of attacks to hit Europe, including in Paris, Berlin and Saint Petersburg, and the French, German and Russian leaders sent messages of support. US President Donald Trump offered his help, tweeting “WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!” — and highlighting his thwarted ban on travellers from six mainly Muslim countries. ***prbxselfnetwork***