London attack: Men 'tried to use 7.5 tonne lorry'

After his payment was declined, Butt and his two accomplices rented a smaller van that they used to plough into crowds before they went on a stabbing rampage in an attack that left eight people dead and almost 50 people injured.

And on March 22 this year, five people were killed when a man rammed his vehicle into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London before stabbing a police officer outside parliament.

A safe house in Barking, east London, discovered by police contained a copy of the Koran opened at a page describing martyrdom, equipment for making petrol bombs, and plastic bottles and duct tape for constructing fake suicide bomb vests.

Attackers drove into people walking across London Bridge before stabbing others in nearby Borough Market.

London's Metropolitan Police said Saturday that they arrested a 27-year-old man and a 28-year-old man overnight in east London on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism.

"A 27-year-old man [S] was arrested at a residential address in Ilford n suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000, at 20:36hrs on 9 June".

In particular they want to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and who witnessed the white van used in the incident, the suspects attacking members of the public or armed police engaging with them.

According to eyewitnesses, the 16-year-old reportedly warned police that "something big was going to happen here", in the London Bridge attackers' home town. "So we need, for example, people who are hiring vans and lorries out to just think about who these people are and if you have any concerns at all to contact us on the anti-terrorist hotline".

The attack began with the van driving back along the pavements of the bridge, running down three pedestrians before crashing outside the Barrowboy and Banker pub opposite London Bridge station, it said. "Where might the attackers have bought them from", said Hayden, in an appeal for more information. In addition, Thirteen Molotov bottles with an incendiary mixture, two blow lamps, and office chairs, which investigators think were used as a cover to rent the vehicle, were found in the terrorists' minivan.

Trucks have been used in a string of terror attacks in Europe over the past year.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "Police were called shortly after 2:00pm on Monday, 5 June, to a man reportedly in possession of three large knives who had boarded a bus travelling on Barking Road".

Messages of condolence on a wall at the end of London Bridge. Eight minutes after police were alerted, armed officers arrived at the scene and fired 46 rounds, killing all three men.

Ch Supt Dave Stringer, head of community engagement for the Met, said officers had arrested more than 25 people since Saturday for hate crime offences.

Police have now interviewed 262 people from 19 different countries regarding the attack.

The Met revealed Butt had been arrested for bank fraud in October 2016 but was not charged.

Pictures of the pink-bladed knives which the London Bridge terrorists used to slaughter innocent pedestrians have been released by police.

"London is an incredibly resilient city", she said.

"Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Barriers" have been added to central London bridges to prevent vehicles being driven onto the pavement.