Analysis ‘This is for Allah’: how summer night out in London turned to horror as panicked bar patrons try to flee attackers armed with long knives

Three assailants stabbed passers-by at random with long knives after smashing into pedestrians in a van, killing six people in a “terror attack” in a popular nightlife hub in London before armed police shot all three dead

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Police enter a bar in London, telling people to get down. Photo: Twitter

Published: 2:32pm, 4 Jun 2017Updated: 11:18pm, 4 Jun 2017

Just minutes before Saturday’s terror attack in London, pubs were crammed with revellers enjoying a balmy night out in a trendy part of the city, many of them watching the Champions League final on big screens.

And then terror struck yet again at London’s heart as a van smashed into pedestrians before its occupants went on a stabbing rampage, bringing bloodshed to the streets of the British capital.

Within minutes, six people had been killed and three attackers shot dead by armed police. Dozens more were wounded.

People enjoying their evening out near the River Thames told of how their night became a nightmare in seconds as they witnessed the attack unfold.

The white van believed to have been used in the attack

First, a white van veered wildly into pedestrians crossing London Bridge, with those who managed to avoid the attack rushing to aid those who were hit.

The van deliberately swerved into groups of people at speed, eyewitnesses said.

“I saw this van going left and right, left and right, trying to catch as many people as he could,” Alessandro told BBC radio.