The Current

London attack by ISIS was 'all too predictable,' says security expert

The recent terrorist attack in London came just days before the U.K's general election.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in London that left seven people dead and 48 injured, June 3. (Peter Nicholls/Reuters)

Read story transcript

A Canadian was among the seven people killed Saturday night, when three assailants plowed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, then got out of the vehicle and ran to a nearby stretch of restaurants and pubs where they attacked people with knives.

Twenty-one people remain in hospital, many in critical condition. The streets around London remain on high alert.

"We saw coming up overnight these big concrete barriers on three of London's bridges along the Thames," the CBC's Margaret Evans tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti.  

British Prime Minister Theresa May says the threat level is severe, which means that an attack is highly likely. 
British Prime Minister Theresa May says the threat level for terrorism is still severe. (Kevin Coombs/Reuters)

The latest turmoil comes just days before Britons prepare to vote in a general election on Thursday.

"The Labour Party sees this as a real opportunity to hit Theresa May because she was the home secretary before she became the prime minister. And they're really hammering away at her saying ... you cut the police services, you don't have a plan in place," Evans explains.

It is low-tech, low-sophistication, but nevertheless highly effective.- Sajjan Gohel, Asia-Pacific Foundation

For Sajjan Gohel, the director of international security at the Asia-Pacific Foundation, this attack was all too predictable. 

"This is a tried and tested tactic to kill by ISIS and sometimes it's accompanied with multiple stabbings. It's what they call 'just terror,'" Gohel explains.

"What they're saying is pick up anything that you can, take access and possession of a vehicle if you can, turn it into a lethal weapon."

He says this attack has all the ISIS hallmarks.

"It is low-tech, low-sophistication, but nevertheless highly effective. It's not like the al-Qaeda cell in which you had multiple people looking to hijack a plane, ram it into a building," he says.

"This is simply about somebody unleashing violence using a vehicle or knives ... it forms part of ISIS' tactic called 'just terror.'"

Listen to this segment at the top of the web post.

This segment was produced by The Current's Idella Sturino and Samira Mohyeddin.