New search underway near home of London Bridge terrorists

LONDON — A new search was underway Tuesday in a neighborhood near the home of two of the London Bridge attackers, hours after police said they had freed everyone detained following the attack.

London police said all 12 people held since the attack late Saturday from the Barking neighborhood in the east of the city have been freed without charge. A new search was underway in Ilford, just north of Barking.

The attack left seven people dead and dozens wounded before police shot dead the three attackers, who wore fake suicide vests.

One of them, Khuram Shazad Butt, had appeared in a documentary, “The Jihadis Next Door,” and was known to investigators. The second man, Rachid Redouane, had not aroused any suspicions. Police have not released the identity of the third attacker.

Butt was a known radical Islamist who was filmed unfurling a black flag resembling the one used by the Islamic State group and raised the suspicion of a neighbor after allegedly trying to lure local youngsters to join his jihadist campaign.

On Monday, British police identified Butt, a 27-year-old Pakistan-born Briton, as one of the assailants, saying he was known to authorities, though they had no evidence he was planning an attack.

The second alleged attacker was identified by police as Redouane, who alternately used the surname Elkhdar, and claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan. He used two different birthdates that would make him either 25 or 30, authorities said.

Police have not yet released the identity of the third person involved in carrying out the attack on London Bridge, where the van swerved into pedestrians, and in nearby Borough Market, where the knife-wielding assailants slashed and stabbed anyone in their path. Besides the dead, dozens more were wounded by the men, who wore fake suicide vests to make themselves look even more imposing.

All three were ultimately shot and killed by police.

All of it happened in just eight minutes, and though police have won praise for their response, it has led to a political fight certain to dominate the waning days before Thursday’s national elections. The campaign roared back into public view Monday after a one-day hiatus, with Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn trading blame over one another’s security stances.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.