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Sunday, June 18, 2017

BREAKING: Finsbury Park Mosque: Man dies as van hits worshippers

Media captionKhalid Amin says he saw people detain a man who was later arrested

by Selina O'Grady and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

A man has died and 10 people have been injured after a man drove a van into worshippers near a north London mosque.

The van mounted the pavement and struck a group of people just after midnight BST near Finsbury Park Mosque in Seven Sisters Road. A 48-year-old man has been arrested.

Prime Minister Theresa May said police were treating it "as a potential terrorist attack".

Eyewitness Abdul Rahman said the driver said he wanted to "kill all Muslims".

Mr Rahman told the BBC he struck the man and helped subdue him.

"When the guy came out from his van he wanted to escape, run away and he was saying 'I want to kill Muslims. 'I want to kill Muslims.'

"I hit him on his stomach... and then me and the other guys... we held him to the ground until he couldn't move. We stopped him until the police came."

Follow live updates here

Finsbury Park Mosque: What we know so far

Counter-terrorism officers are at the scene, the Metropolitan Police said.

Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain said: "Over the past weeks and months, Muslims have endured many incidents of Islamophobia, and this is the most violent manifestation to date.

"We expect the authorities to increase security outside mosques as a matter of urgency."

Many of the victims are believed to have just left evening prayers at the Muslim Welfare House after breaking the Ramadan fast.

The MCB said it was a "violent manifestation of Islamophobia" and called for extra security around mosques.

The PM will chair a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee later.

She described it as a "terrible incident", adding: "All my thoughts are with those who have been injured, their loved ones and the emergency services on the scene."

Extra police are being deployed to reassure communities, especially those observing Ramadan, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said.

He has also asked people to "remain calm and vigilant".

He said: "We don't yet know the full details, but this was clearly a deliberate attack on innocent Londoners, many of whom were finishing prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

"While this appears to be an attack on a particular community, like the terrible attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect."

Media captionFinsbury attack: 'Muslims don't feel safe'

If confirmed as a terror attack it would be the fourth such incident in the UK in four months, after attacks in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge.

The van driver was arrested after being detained by members of the public at the scene following the collision at 00:20 BST.

Police said there were no reports of anyone suffering from knife injuries after speculation at the scene the driver was armed with a knife.

Abdulrahman Saleh Alamoudi said he was among a group of people helping an elderly worshipper who had fallen down when the van swerved towards them.

Video posted online of the aftermath showed a scene of chaos as people tried to help the injured.

One man could be seen giving CPR to a victim in the street while another man's head injury was treated with a makeshift dressing.

Armed police at the scene of Finsbury Park Mosque

An eyewitness told how he jumped out the way of the van as it struck.

He said: "He just came into all of us. There was a lot of people. We got told to move straight away.

"I was shocked, shocked, shocked. There were bodies around me.

"Thank God I just moved to the side. I just jumped. Everyone is hurt. Everyone is actually hurt."

Another who lives in a flat on Seven Sisters Road told the BBC she saw people "shouting and screaming".

"Everyone was shouting 'a van's hit people'.

"There was this white van stopped outside Finsbury Park Mosque that seems to have hit people who were coming out of the mosque after prayers finished."

She said the road was "backed up" with police cars, ambulance and fire engines.

Corbyn 'shocked'

Some witnesses at the scene - near Finsbury Park Station and Arsenal's Emirates stadium - said more than one attacker may have been involved.

But the Met said: "At this early stage of this investigation, no other suspects at the scene have been identified or reported to police, however the investigation continues."

Home Secretary Amber Rudd described it as an appalling incident.

"We must all continue to stand together, resolute, against all those who try to divide us and spread hate and fear," she said.

Labour leader and Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said on Twitter: "I'm totally shocked at the incident at Finsbury Park tonight.

"I've been in touch with the mosques, police and Islington council regarding the incident. My thoughts are with those and the community affected by this awful event."

Muslim men pray on the street in the aftermath of the van attack

Labour's shadow home secretary and Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott said on Twitter that police "must urgently review security for all mosques".

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas said she was thinking of the community and emergency services, adding: "We will not be divided."

Witness Cynthia Vanzella said on Twitter: "Horrible to watch police officers doing cardiac massage at people on the floor, desperately trying to save them. I just hope they did."

The MCB said its "prayers are with the victims".

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Wednesday, May 24, 2017

BREAKING: Manchester attack: May to tackle Trump over 'evidence' leaks

Possible detonator and backpack remnants — Image captionThe New York Times says this evidence was gathered at the scene of the attack

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

Theresa May is to raise concerns with Donald Trump after evidence from the Manchester Arena bombing was apparently leaked to US media.

UK officials were "furious" when photos appearing to show debris from the attack appeared in the New York Times.

Monday night's attack at Manchester Arena killed 22 people - including children - and injured 64.

Eight men are now in custody following the attack, carried out by suicide bomber Salman Abedi.

The prime minister is expected to raise the issue of the leak with the US president when they meet at a Nato summit later.

Details about Abedi's identity had already emerged in the US media less than 24 hours after the explosion and against the UK's wishes.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said she was "irritated" by the disclosure of Abedi's identity and had warned Washington "it should not happen again".

However, the pictures of debris - which appear to show bloodstained fragments from the bomb and the backpack used to conceal it - were subsequently leaked to the New York Times, prompting a furious response from within Whitehall and from UK police chiefs.

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera says UK officials believe that US law enforcement rather than the White House is the likely culprit for the leaks.

Further two arrests

The meeting between Mrs May and Mr Trump, at a Nato summit in Brussels, will take place as British police continue to investigate an alleged "network" linked to Abedi.

Early on Thursday morning, detectives carried out a controlled explosion as they searched a property in the Moss Side area of Manchester.

Two men were also arrested following a search of an address in the Withington area of Greater Manchester.

In total, eight men, including Abedi's older brother, and a woman have been arrested in a series of raids across Manchester, Wigan and Nuneaton.

The woman was subsequently released without charge in the early hours of Thursday.

Meanwhile, Abedi's father and a younger brother have been detained by militia in Libya.

Media caption"I made known my concerns about it to the US ambassador" - Andy Burnham

A Whitehall source described the second US leak as "on another level", and told the BBC it had caused "disbelief and astonishment" across the British government.

The source said the the issue was "being raised at every relevant level by the British authorities with their US counterparts".

The UK's National Police Chiefs' Council described the "unauthorised disclosure" as a breach of trust which had potentially undermined a "major counter-terrorism investigation".

Counter-terrorism detectives have spoken in the past about how important it sometimes is the names of suspects do not make it into the media.

A delay of around 36 hours, before the public know who they are investigating, can allow them to arrest known associates of the suspect before they know police are looking for them.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the leaks had worried him "greatly," and he had raised them with the US ambassador.

Mr Burnham told Newsnight a decision had been taken to adopt a "cautious approach" to making information public, "and yet the first reports were coming seemingly out of the United States".

Abedi's identity was first reported in the US - with American TV networks CBS and NBC naming him as the suspect.

In other developments, the government has announced that a minute's silence will be held at 11:00 BST on Thursday in remembrance of those who lost their lives or were affected by the attack.

The Conservatives and Labour are to resume local general election campaigning on Thursday, and national campaigning on Friday.

What's happening with the investigation?

Ismail and Ramadan Abedi, sourced from Facebook — Image captionIsmail Abedi was detained in Chorlton, south Manchester; his father, Ramadan, was held in Tripoli

Eight men and one woman have been arrested in the UK since Monday night, including Abedi's older brother Ismail, 23, although the woman has since been released.

Younger brother Hashem, 20, was held by militia in the Libyan capital Tripoli, as was their father.

Speaking on Wednesday afternoon, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "I think it's very clear that this is a network that we are investigating.

"And as I've said, it continues at a pace. There's extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester, as we speak."

As part of their investigation, police raided a block of flats near Manchester Piccadilly station in the city centre, requiring them to carry out a controlled explosion and briefly close the railway line.

Police carried out another controlled explosion in the early hours of Thursday morning at an address in the Moss Side area of Manchester.

Anyone with information about the attack can call the anti-terror hotline on 0800 789321.

Who are the victims?

Victims of the Manchester bombing — Image captionClockwise, from top left: Georgina Callander, Saffie Roussos, Olivia Campbell, Martyn Hett, Michelle Kiss, Sorrell Leczkowski, Alison Howe, Lisa Lees, Jane Tweddle-Taylor, Nell Jones, Marcin Klis, Angelika Klis, Kelly Brewster and John Atkinson

Some of the victims had been making their way outside at the end of the gig when Abedi detonated his "nuts-and-bolts" bomb.

Others had been waiting in the foyer to pick up children and family.

A serving Cheshire police officer - off-duty at the time - was among those killed. She has not yet been named.

The victims include 14-year-old Sorrell Leczkowski, from Leeds, whose grandmother is critically injured in hospital.

Others who died are mother-of-three Michelle Kiss, Nell Jones, 14, eight-year-oldSaffie Roussos, Alison Howe, Lisa Lees, Jane Tweddle-Taylor, 51, Martyn Hett, 29, and Olivia Campbell, 15.

Kelly Brewster, 32, John Atkinson, 28, Georgina Callander - thought to be 18 - and Marcin and Angelika Klis, a Polish couple from York, have also been named.

South Shields couple Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19 have been named among the dead. Family members paid tribute to the teenagers and in a statement issued by police said: "They wanted to be together forever and now they are."

Eilidh MacLeod, a 14-year-old from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, also died. Her family issued a statement saying: "Words cannot express how we feel at losing our darling Eilidh."

Of the 64 injured, 20 are in a critical condition. Twelve of them are children.

The BBC understands the partner of the unnamed police officer is critically ill and his two children were injured.

The chief constable of Greater Manchester Police said the families of all those injured had been contacted.

Who was the attacker?

Salman Abedi is understood to have been a 22-year-old born in Manchester to Libyan parents, and a former University of Salford student.

He attended Burnage Academy for Boys in Manchester between 2009 and 2011, and The Manchester College until 2013.

Hamid El-Said, who worked for the UN on tackling radicalisation and now works at Manchester Metropolitan University, said Abedi had had a "really bad relationship" with his family and his parents had tried but failed to keep him on the "right path".

"Eventually he was doing very bad at his university, at his education, and he didn't complete, and they tried to take him back to Libya several times. He had difficulties adjusting to European lifestyle," he said.

A former classmate of Abedi's told the BBC that he was a "very jokey lad" but also "very short tempered" and would get angry at "the littlest thing".

The man, who did not want to be identified, said Abedi had hung around "the wrong crowd and was very, very gullible".

Before leaving Burnage Academy in 2011, Abedi had become "more and more religious", the man added.

A Muslim community worker, who did not want to be identified, has told the BBC that two people who had known Abedi at college had made separate calls to a hotline to warn the police about his extremist views.

He said they had been worried that Abedi was "supporting terrorism" and he had expressed the view that "being a suicide bomber was ok".

The calls are thought to have been made five years ago, he added.

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