One person was killed and multiple people were injured when a van was driven into a crowd of people leaving the Finsbury Park mosque after prayers. He added that the driver of the van was arrested on suspicion of murder. Police have not released his identity.
Another eight people were hospitalized and two others were treated at the scene, Basu said.
However, he said the attack may be proof that people who were trying to demonise London and Britain's Muslim community and divide the community were succeeding. The attack comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Khan also called on Britain's government to supply more funding and resources to the city's police force.
Mayor Sadiq Khan, London's first Muslim mayor, urged residents to focus on their shared values and to stand together during an unprecedented period in the capital's history.
On March 22, a man drove a rented auto into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead. In a statement Khan said, "While this appears to be an attack on a particular community, like the awful attacks in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge it is also an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect".
I've said this many times over recent weeks, but it needs repeating: on behalf of all Londoners I thank our police and emergency services for the incredible and courageous work they do on our behalf.
The attacker, who is believed to have acted alone, struck as the area was busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at the mosque.
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Witnesses reported that the assailant repeatedly said: "I want to kill Muslims". "This person was conscious".
On most Fridays, the faithful stream towards several mosques in the neighborhood, home to a large Muslim community of mostly North and West African descent.
Tactical units in East Hertfordshire were deployed close to mosques early this morning following the attack near the Finsbury Park mosque. After those attacks, the mosque was shut down and reorganized and has not been associated with radical views for more than a decade.
The Prime Minister was heckled as she left the Finsbury Park mosque, with one bystander shouting: "'How come you were so quick today?" in reference to her initial failure to meet with victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. Looking on at the scene from behind a police cordon hours later, holding her young son's hand, Mohammad says her family left Mogadishu, Somalia, to escape violence like this.
Police are treating the incident as a terror attack.
A man who wanted to be identified as Abdulrahman, which is not his real name, said he helped detain the suspect and added: "When he went into the [police] van he made gestures, he was laughing". Police shot and killed the three Islamic extremists who carried out the attack. Earlier this year, a man plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people before stabbing a police officer outside Parliament.
Two months later, a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester, northwest England.
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