United Kingdom – On the 19 Jun 17 at 0020 hrs local a single male drove a white van at a number of Muslims outside the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road, near the Finsbury Park Mosque, in London. A small group of Muslims were assisting an elderly male who had collapsed with suspected heart problems when the driver struck those and others who were waiting nearby for the next set of prayers. The white van mounted the pavement and drove into the waiting people. The police later confirmed that one person had died as a result of the attack and ten others were injured two seriously. The male that died was the person (who has not been named at the time of reporting) who was being treated earlier and the police are unsure (at the time of reporting) if his death was a result of his injuries or the white van. The police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack. A single 47 year old male was arrested after a small group of males tackled the driver as he attempted to leave the incident on foot; he was then handed over to the police on their arrival. One witness claimed that the driver said he “wanted to kill Muslims.” The vehicle that was used was a rental van which was hired in Wales and had “Pontyclun Van Hire” which is a firm from Rhondda Crnon Taff in Wales. The driver was later named as Darren Osborne who had hired the £80 a day van. Osborne was born in Singapore in 1969 and believed to have been brought up in Western-Super-Mare, Somerset and then later moved to South Wales. After the incident Osborne was taken to hospital where later he was arrested for attempted Murder. 361 COMMENT: The far right groups will support this style of attack whilst others such as Da’esh will quickly condemn it and use it as propaganda to inspire and recruit to commit retaliatory attacks not just in the UK but in other countries as well. There will be other Muslims who will see this attack as one step too far in Islamaphobic attacks that have been occurring for some time and may look to retaliate. COMMENT ENDS
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