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Third London attacker named amid anger over security flaws

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London: Police on Tuesday identified the third attacker in the weekend terror assault in London amid mounting anger, two days before an election, over how the killers had apparently escaped surveillance.


With flags at half-mast, the nation fell silent at 11:00 am (10:00 GMT) to remember the seven killed and dozens injured on Saturday night — a mourning ritual now grimly familiar after two previous terror attacks in less than three months.


Police identified the third attacker as Youssef Zaghba, a 22-year-old Italian of Moroccan descent, a day after naming his accomplices as Khuram Shazad Butt, 27, a Pakistan-born Briton, and Rachid Redouane, 30, a self-described Moroccan-Libyan dual national.


Police also said they had made an overnight raid in east London and arrested a 27-year-old man early on Tuesday. Twelve people arrested earlier have since been released.


Butt “was known to the police and MI5” but there was no intelligence to suggest the attack was being planned, the Metropolitan Police said.


Zaghba was “not a police or MI5 subject of interest,” it added, an assertion that seemed to conflict with accounts in the Italian media.


Criticism immediately flared about how Butt was able to carry out the attack.


He had notably featured in a Channel 4 TV documentary and, according to the British media, numerous people alarmed by his views had gone to the authorities.


And according to Italian media reports, Zaghba’s status as a potential militant had been notified to the British and Moroccan secret services.


The London attack follows the May 22 bombing at the Manchester Arena by Salman Abedi — killing 22 people, including children — who was also known to British intelligence services.


Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson acknowledged the security services had to provide answers.


“People are going to look at the front pages today and they are going to say, ‘How on earth could we have let this guy or possibly more through the net- What happened- How can he possibly be on a Channel 4 programme and then committing atrocities like this-’,” Johnson said on Sky News.


“That is a question that will need to be answered by MI5, by the police, as the investigation goes on,” he said.


Prime Minister Theresa May, her language more tenuous, told Sky News: “I absolutely recognise people’s concerns.”


“MI5 and the police have already said they would be reviewing how they dealt with Manchester and I would expect them to do exactly the same in relation to London Bridge,” she said.


After a brief pause, election campaigning resumed on Monday, with security dominating the agenda ahead of Thursday’s vote.


May has vowed to crack down on extremist content online, saying: “We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are.” — AFP


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