Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly London attack

LONDON. KAZINFORM The Islamic State terror organization on Sunday claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack in central London that killed seven people, wounded 48 and resulted in the deaths of three assailants at the hands of London police, according to Agencia EFE . 

According to the Amaq news agency which is associated with the organization, IS confirmed in a message distributed over social media that "a security unit of Islamic State fighters perpetrated (Saturday's) attack," which left 21 of the 48 wounded in critical condition.

At about 9 pm on Saturday evening, the driver of a white van traveling at high speed deliberately rammed it into a number of pedestrians on London Bridge.

Moments later, three men got out of the vehicle at nearby Borough Market and began stabbing passers-by at random, including a police officer, who was seriously injured, according to authorities.

Armed police responded to the incidents "very quickly and bravely and confronted three male suspects, who were shot and killed on Borough Market," according to a police statement.

The London Metropolitan Police also said that the suspects wore "what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes."

Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit chief Mark Rowley said on Sunday that police were making "significant progress" in trying to identify the three dead suspects, although their identities have still not been made public.

"Work is ongoing to understand more about them, their connections and whether they were assisted or supported by anyone else," Rowley said.

London police are working on the hypothesis that the authors of the attack could have belonged to a larger terrorist cell.

So far authorities have arrested 12 people for possible links to the attack after staging a series of raids in East London.