London Attack: The Investigation Is Progressing, A Frenchman Among The Victims

Scientific police at work on the London Bridge this Sunday, June 4, 2016.

Sunday's raids took place in the popular neighborhood of Barking in eastern London, where a dozen people were arrested. An AFP photographer saw four women covering their faces with a headscarf, being taken to a van by the police.

In a new release, the head of the counter-terrorism said investigators were making rapid progress and had identified the men who hit London on Saturday night.

The priority now is to find out if they have been helped by other accomplices to prepare for this attack. The security forces conducted a series of raids in the suburb of Barking, east of London very early Sunday morning.

Twelve people including four women were arrested in connection with the attack. Investigators searched several addresses in a block of Barking buildings and proceeded to a controlled explosion in the apartment of one of the assailants. According to his neighbors, the man was married and had two children and lived there for three years.

Meanwhile, in London, police said security cables in the areas targeted by the attack would be maintained for some time, and security measures in the British capital would be re-examined.

Londoners must expect to see more armed and unarmed police patrolling the streets, while specific security measures will also be taken to protect the public on the capital's bridges.

A Frenchman among the victims

A Frenchman was killed in the attack and seven are hospitalized, four of them in serious condition, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian announced on Sunday in Tunis, pointing out that another French national was still "missing". "  Terrorists of incredible cowardice attacked the innocent crowd on a Saturday night, causing dozens of victims, including several of my compatriots," the minister said in a brief statement at the Bardo Museum where 22 people were killed in a jihadist attack in March 2015.

According to the newspaper Ouest-France, the French victim is a native of Saint-Malo and worked for a bar near London Bridge. "The assassination of our young compatriot in London is a drama for all of us," Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reacted to Twitter, expressing "  sincere thoughts to his family and loved ones".

Some 200,000 French nationals live in London, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs which recorded more than 3,000 other French people present in the British capital on the occasion of the extended weekend of Pentecost.

Emmanuel Macron, who assured in the morning that France would "make every effort to assist  " French nationals among the victims, spoke with the families in the afternoon, expressing to them the "  full solidarity of the Countries in this event  ". "  The attack that struck London last night, a few days after that of Manchester, is another abominable and cowardly attack on our free societies," the head of state said in a statement.

France will "continue with all its strength to fight terrorism alongside the United Kingdom and all the countries concerned", he added.