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3rd Terror Attack in U.K. in Less than 3 Months; France Stands in Solidarity with London; 4 Countries Cut Ties with Qatar for Supporting Terrorism; Muslims Speak Out Against London Rampage. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired June 05, 2017 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[01:00:00] JOHN VAUSE, CNN NEWSROOM ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world, great to have you with us. I'm John Vause in Los Angeles.

HANNAH VAUGHAN JONES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: And I'm Hannah Vaughan Jones live for you here in the heart of London. Police say they have carried out two new raids in connection to Saturday's terror attack here in London. They say a number of people have also been detained through those raids. A police had previously arrested 12 people on Sunday, though one man was later released. As for the attack itself, well, ISIS is claiming responsibility for the rampage. But the terror group is offering no evidence to support that claim. The attack itself lasted just 18 minutes in total. It started when this rental van drove into pedestrians on London Bridge. The three attackers then left the van and went on a stabbing rampage in the popular Borough market. A local baker recorded some of the aftermath-and we want to just warn you the images we're about to show you are graphic.

Terrifying scenes there, and you can see police officers are desperately trying to help the wounded as were many of the other bystanders as well, trying to get to those in need. Police say that they fired what's been dubbed an unprecedented 50 shots to kill the attackers, who appeared at the time to be wearing suicide belts-it turns out those belts were actually fake. This photo appears to show two of the attackers on the ground. There is no word yet on the identities of any of these three attacker attackers. We are also learning, though, plenty more information about some of the victims. Krissy Archibald from Canada is among the seven people killed, 48 others were wounded and many of them remain in a critical condition in hospital this Monday morning.

Well, in the hours following the attack, U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to criticize London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and to renew the call for his controversial travel ban. But at a social event in Washington on Sunday night, Mr. Trump took a softer tone and offered his unwavering support to the United Kingdom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: America sends our thoughts, our prayers, and our deepest sympathies to the victims of this evil slaughter. And we renew our resolve-stronger than ever before-to protect the United States and its allies from a vile enemy that has waged war on innocent life, and it's gone on too long. This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Jonathan Wood joins me now, and he's a terrorism expert with control risks-which is an independent consulting company that specializes in security risks. Jonathan thanks again for joining us. And when we hear rhetoric from President Donald Trump suggesting that he can somehow politicize the horror of Saturday night, how damaging is that to anti-terror attempts going forward for these security authorities?

JONATHAN WOOD, CONTROL RISK DIRECTOR: Well, certainly for the U.S., and for the U.K., and for countries across Europe and the world, cooperation with countries in the Middle East among each other is one of the most important dimensions of counterterrorism. And so, it's very important that going forward, good relations are maintained, and engagement is maintained for that cooperation to continue. There's certainly a concern expressed here in Europe and in the U.S. as well that any comments that might damage those relations could make it more difficult to obtain the intelligence in a timely fashion, or at all that's needed to stop attacks.

JONES: The U.S. President is taking to Twitter to voice his first thoughts on anything that happens, and it is, of course, Twitter, social media, Facebook and the like, that really have been the focus now of some condemnation or at least an attempt of collaboration with the likes of the Prime Minister here. What more do technology companies need to do in order to make sure that they're not providing some sort of platform for would-be terrorists?

WOOD: It's certainly one of the most difficult questions in security and counterterrorism. Today, these are platforms that provide services to a wide range of users. They are unfortunately used by these types of actors as well. And increasingly, in this current wave of Islamic State-inspired terrorism, social media, encrypted communications apps, are a big part of how they structure their operations. That may have been the case here in London. We don't know. But it's certainly been the case in previous attacks in Europe. And so, going forward, the Prime Minister here in the U.K. has called for a review or tighter control of those types of means of communication. Certainly, the technology companies themselves take it extremely seriously. They're investing heavily-both financially and in terms of technology and personnel-

[01:05:17] JONES: Manpower, yes.

WOOD: To combat it. But it's a difficult question. There's no- certainly, no easy solutions that are immediately apparent.

JONES: We don't yet know too much detail about the three attackers themselves. ISIS is claiming responsibility; no evidence or proof that that might indeed be the case. But as far as the nature of the attack is concerned, using a van, wielding knives, going on a stabbing rampage, is this the sort of the new approach by ISIS? WOOD: It is indeed this type of low-tech, low-cost attack here in

Europe, also in the U.S., in other countries around the world. It's become much more prevalent over the last two years. It doesn't require individuals to have traveled abroad to obtain training. It doesn't require them to have access to substantial financial resources, or experience, or capabilities. It's an attack that is easily carried out against what we would call a civilian "soft target," which are difficult or impossible to protect.

And even if you protect targets in one location, city centers, there are always a wide number of other potential targets elsewhere. And we've certainly seen that here in the U.K.-the Manchester bombing for example. The security cordon in place around that event, the attack took place just outside of it. Here in London as well, parts of the city after the Westminster incident will certainly experience more visible policing that contributed to the response in this case. But there's always going to be more targets than you can possibly defend.

JONES: As far as the investigation itself goes, there have been many raids over the course of yesterday on Sunday and many more today as well. Most of them seemingly to be centered around Barking in East London. Does that suggest that they certainly - the police at least know who the attackers are? They know their identities, and that perhaps there might be some sort of hotbed, a terror cell operating in the heart of London?

WOOD: It's hard to know exactly what those series of raids in that location mean at this point. It's probably likely that the police do indeed know the identities of the individuals involved in this attack, and it would be standard for them as a consequence of the investigation to look at their associates, their families, and their communications, which might well be very geographically focused. This was - and something that distinguishes it from previous vehicle ramming and not knife attacks in Europe and other countries carried out about a cell of three individuals. Most likely they were perhaps tightly knit, well known to each other, maybe lived alongside each other or grew up together. It's that close-knit network that the police will be exploring and investigating to determine if there were any other individuals involved in this incident.

JONES: And we wait to see if we get more information from the Metropolitan police today as to who they have detained and perhaps as well the identity of the attackers themselves. Jonathan, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Well, it is 6:00 a.m. - just gone 6:00 a.m., this Monday morning, and London really are getting back to business. There is plenty of police activity. You can probably see there are armed officers behind me as well. This cordon is very much still in place around London Bridge. I've got Southwark Bridge to my right-hand side. London Bridge itself, where the attack took place on Saturday night is behind me. But as I say, it's a sunny Monday morning here in London, and very much you can see cyclists going to work, people getting on with their daily business as well. Plenty more on this story to come and I'll hand you now over to my colleague John Vause, who's in Los Angeles with more details. John.

VAUSE: Yes. It's a start of another difficult week there for many in Britain. Well, the borough market area was packed on Saturday night with many out enjoying a warm, summer-like night in London. Terror experts describe that as a soft target. No, people say, it's a place to gather and have fun with friends. And the time by the time the attack was over, seven were dead including a Canadian woman and a French national. 36 People are still being treated in hospital. Erin McLaughlin is outside King's College Hospital, she joins us now live. Erin, what more do we know about the people who were killed?

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're beginning to hear from the victims' families, those who were killed in this horrific attack. Krissy Archibald was a Canadian national. She was working in a homeless shelter in Canada. She moved to Europe to be with her fiance. Her fiance's brother, on Facebook posting, that she was struck by the van on that London bridge attack. Medical services did everything they could to save her, but she tragically died. The family is in shock. They released a statement. I'll read you part of it.

This is what her family wants you to know about Krissy Archibald: "We grieve the loss of our beautiful, loving daughter and sister. She had room in her heart for everyone and believed strongly that every person was to be valued and respected. She lived in this belief, working in a shelter for the homeless until she moved to Europe to be with her fiance. She would have had no understanding of the callous cruelty that caused her death." The statement goes on to ask people to honor her memory by helping their local communities of volunteering at homeless shelters, also donating to homeless shelters. Krissy Archibald one of seven victims in that tragic, horrific attack. John.

[01:10:41] VAUSE: And we know many people are still in the hospital, and many remain in a critical condition right now.

MCLAUGHLIN: That's right, John. 36 people currently being treated at London's hospitals: 21 in critical condition, 14 of those patients being treated here at the London King's College Hospital. We spoke to the mother of one, Daniel O'Neill. He was stabbed in the borough market attack. His mother says that she was in shock. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was in shock, and he said, I don't think work will believe this has happened I'm going to have to go in on Monday, but he was in shock. I said it's because you don't believe it's happened, and you think other people are going to find it hard. And he feels very bad that he's alive while others have died.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: She also says that they want to try to find the police officers who saved Daniel's life. And we're also hearing the story of Jeff Hoe. He was a Business Editor at a newspaper here in the U.K. called: The Sunday Express. Jeff was at a pub when the attackers entered. They were trying to stab a bouncer. Jeff intervened and was stabbed himself in the neck. In the hours following the attack, his friends were really concerned. They couldn't find him. He was missing. But then relief when a social media video emerged showing him calmly bleeding out of his neck, walking to get help. The Sunday Express hailing him as a hero.

VAUSE: Erin, thank you. We should also note that among the victims, people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, and Spain as well. So, you know, a lot of people in that area to give you an idea of just what it may have been like there on Saturday. Erin, thank you. We will take a short break. When we come back, this terror attack lasted less than 20 minutes, enough time for lives to be lost, but the heroes to emerge as well. Also, using a van as a weapon, terrorists armed with knives, low-tech attacks, but could this be the new normal? We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:15:21] KATE RILEY, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: I'm Kate Riley with your CNN WORLD SPORT Headlines. On Saturday, Real Madrid went into the history books winning their second consecutive Champions League title, smashing Juventus 4-1 in Cardiff, Wales. And the crowned kings of Europe returned home to Madrid to celebrate their 12th Champions League title. But first and foremost, Los Blancos held a minute of silence to pay tribute to those affected by the attack in London on Saturday.

The French Open is barely into its second week, but there's one thing guaranteed. We will see a first-time grand slam champion lift the Roland Garros trophy on the women's side next Saturday. Last season's surprise champion, Garbine Muguruza, was ousted by the home favorite, Kristina Mladenovic of France, in three sets.

And seven-time major winner Venus Williams was upset by Switzerland. More than a billion fans were expected to turn their attention to one of the biggest sporting rivalries. India versus Pakistan in cricket. The latest matchup was part of the opening campaign at the Champions trophy cricket in Birmingham, England, on Sunday. And you might say that the rivalry might be losing its luster as India thrashed Pakistan by 124 runs. India has now beaten Pakistan in seven straight ICC tournament.

That's a look at all your Sports Headlines, I'm Kate Riley.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The taxi driver just swerved towards me, and they said, run. You have to run. They've got a knife. And his face was just like -- something was so wrong. So I just started running as fast as I could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw quite a lot of city police, and they were chasing people across the bridge. This was normal civilians, normal pedestrians over the bridge, and screaming at them to run, run, run for your lives. Terror.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I plead with people not to be scared, not to be angry, because this is exactly what those people want us to feel. And we have to stand together.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. All that terror, all that fear was caused by a low-tech attack. A van was weaponized. The terrorists were armed with long knives. CNN's contributor and former Fbi Agent Steve Moore join us now. Steve, good to see you. Unlike the Manchester bombing, the three terrorists from the Saturday attack, they wouldn't need to travel to Libya or Syria to get specialized training for this, would they?

STEVE MOORE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER FBI AGENT: No. Not at all. They got all the training they needed in high school in learning how to drive vehicles. This is something, unfortunately, that is crude but very effective, and it's something that anybody, unfortunately, can do with very little training.

VAUSE: And again if we compare this to what happened in Manchester two weeks ago, that seems to have involved a significant terror cell, lots of planning, sophisticated bombs. If you compare that to Saturday, is it likely anyone else is actively involved, or if they were involved, it's that they knew something about it and they just kept quiet?

MOORE: John, I would be surprised if three people could pull this off and not tell somebody. It's kind of surprising that this kind of attack was undertaken by three separate people. I don't know if they were close friends or even relatives. But somebody has to have known something. And while I am very encouraged that recently some people have been turned over by the Muslim community for being too radical, I think that needs to happen more.

VAUSE: OK. We've had three attacks now in Britain, that's happened since March. In that time, the Prime Minister says five credible plots have been foiled. So is this now entering, what, a terrorist cycle for the British? Is this the new normal, and what's driving this?

MOORE: I would hope it's not, but it very well could be. What we're seeing, as we've discussed before, is trying to amplify the terrorism that is going on by having them in quick succession. And this could be the new normal because honestly, John, I was in charge of Al Qaeda investigation for L.A. Let me tell you the hard truth. It doesn't matter if you protected that -- if you protected Borough market, they would hit somewhere else. If you protected that, somewhere else they would hit a smaller group. All you can do is make it smaller groups that they can hit and more crude weapons. You cannot stop the weapons. You cannot protect enough of the places. We have to look at a different way of addressing this.

VAUSE: Well, that's pretty much what the Prime Minister has said. She is saying, you know, she has said that, you know, Britain needs to rethink what they're doing about counterterrorism, which, you know, essentially means there are some difficult choices ahead. And not just for Britain, right?

[01:20:08] MOORE: No. It's for the entire world and it's going to have to be an entire world effort because what's happening is this is digital communications that we're talking about. And digital communications jump across international borders and oceans faster than we can blink. So it's going to be a world effort. And what's going on now is that the -- you see, we can protect children, 10-year- old children, or we can try to protect 10-year-old girls from being sexually abused by predators. But we are not effectively protecting them from being killed by people using the internet, and we have to look in the mirror and decide what are we willing to accept? What deaths are we willing to take before we start putting the same type of restrictions on would-be terrorists as we do on would-be pedophiles?

VAUSE: OK. But this then gets to the question that they always say, you know, don't let the terrorism change your way of life, but essentially, there will need to be a choice between the freedoms that we all enjoy and maybe giving up some of those liberties if we want to be safe.

MOORE: Well, if you don't want to change your life at all, then why are we screening people at airports? I mean, yes, it's a fallacy to say that terrorists are not going to change our lives. Of course, it's going to change our lives, what it shouldn't do is change our way of life. We shouldn't live in fear. And the way we keep from living in fear is getting screened at airports, making sure that when people plan attacks on innocent children, that they can't do it with impunity just because they're hiding behind free speech on the internet.

And I'm not saying set up this massive screening thing to look at everything on the internet but when somebody does something like this and you harvest their computer and you find dozens of people and dozens of websites they're looking at give law enforcement the ability to get warrants to find out who is behind these things.

VAUSE: You know, for most people out there, that seems pretty reasonable. Steve, thanks. Steve Moore, Former FBI Agent, and our Law Enforcement contributor. So Hannah, clearly, as we say, a lot of issues being re-evaluated right now by the British when it comes to just how they deal with terrorism.

JONES: Yes, absolutely. The investigation is really at some pace at the moment. The first police call, John, went out on Saturday night at around eight minutes past 10:00 local time. At 10:16 p.m. on Saturday, just eight minutes later, all three attackers were down. A quick response time that's been really widely praised across Britain and the wider world. Officials say that when armed police arrived on the scene, they fired what's been dubbed an unprecedented 50 rounds at the terrorists who appeared at the time to be wearing suicide belts. It turns out that those belts were fake. And police have already arrested 12 people that took place on Sunday. This is during raids in East London. One person, we should point out, has been released following those arrests. A former Chief Superintendent for the Metropolitan Police joins me now via Skype.

Every time we speak, it seems to be in the aftermath of another terror atrocity here in the U.K. I want to ask you first of all, though, about the police response to the terror attack. It's been dubbed as being extremely quick, extremely efficient, and just eight minutes after they were called, the three attackers were down. Your reaction? DAL BABU, METROPOLITAN POLICE FORMER CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT: Well, it's

a phenomenal police response. You're actually right. Eight minutes from the time that the call was made, police officers would have had to make some incredibly difficult decisions. Going to a bar, there would have been a lot of chaos going on there, people very frightened as these terrorists tried to kill innocent Londoners from our multi- cultural community, and the police officers made some incredible difficult decisions. And I think we need to praise the police officers for their speed, and the Metropolitan police particularly, in making sure that they've got officers in the right place at the right time.

JONES: Inevitably, though, in the aftermath of an attack like this, questions are asked about resources. Do the police in Britain have enough resources in order to keep the public safe? That will no doubt be a debate going into the general election, of course, which is still due to take place on Thursday of this week. Do you think that the police, the security services in Britain, need more?

BABU: Well, we've had, over the last five years, we've had a reduction of 20,000 police officers. That's a significant reduction. It's almost 15 percent of the police service has been reduced. This is not just about counterterrorism officers. It's about the softer side of engaging with the community, making sure officers are able to get information and then use that information to turn into intelligence. So I think there is an issue about resources. It will be interesting, as you say; the general election is on June the 8th. It will be interesting to see where this latest incident feeds into the general election. But I think people are asking the questions about resourcing. Have the police service been given sufficient resources? And ultimately, we are not talking about individuals sort of coming from abroad.

These are British people who are being manipulated and groomed largely on the internet. I think there will be some interesting debates about what happens in terms of controls on the internet and actually putting pressure on companies like Google and Twitter and Facebook, who make billions of pounds in profit, who need to invest more in security and make sure that they share that information with the authorities.

[01:26:06] JONES: Dal, always good to talk to you. Unfortunately in such sad circumstances as well, but we appreciate your expertise on this issue. Dal Babu, thank you very much.

BABU: Thank you.

JONES: As Great Britain grieves a call for unit from the Muslim community. And also, France is standing in solidarity with London. It's seen a surge of terror attacks in the past two years. What Britain can learn from France just ahead. Stay with us here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Thanks for staying with us, everybody. You're watching CNN. I'm John Vause in Los Angeles.

JONES: And I'm Hannah Vaughan Jones live for you here in the heart of London, with the very latest on our breaking news.

Police have carried out two more raids in connection to Saturday's terror attack here in London. They say they're also speaking to a number of people who they have currently in custody. 12 people have previously been arrested. Those arrests took place yesterday, on Sunday. We should point out that one of those individuals has since been released.

ISIS, the terror group, is claiming responsibility for Saturday night's rampage not far from where I'm standing. However, there is no evidence yet to support is' claim.

This is the third terror attack in the U.K. in less than three months. At least seven people were killed on Saturday night. 48 people were wounded. Many of them remain in a critical condition in hospital.

Let's explain how things played out on Saturday. Three men drove a rented van into pedestrians on London Bridge. The attackers then got out and went on a stabbing rampage at the popular and very busy Borough Market. The men appeared to be wearing suicide belts, but those belts turned out to be fake. Police then fired what they're calling an unprecedented 50 rounds to kill the attackers. There is no word yet from the authorities on the names or the nationalities or identities of the attackers.

I want to bring in Nina dos Santos, who is at 10 Downing Street, for more on the response from the government.

Nina, we heard from the prime minister, Theresa May, yesterday. She said enough is enough. What does that mean, then, in practical terms?

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's a question that will certainly become clearer as we enter the final few days of this election campaign, which is set to resume later on today, Hannah.

Yes, you're right. She took to the podium just outside the steps of Number 10 to take a slightly different and quite harsher stance than we've heard from her before. Remember that this is the third time that this country has had to face these kind of scenes, and it's the third time that she's had to respond to them. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THERESA MAY, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It is time to say enough is enough. Everybody needs to go about their lives as they normally would. Our society should continue to function in accordance with our values. But when it comes to taking on extremism and terrorism, things need to change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOS SANTOS: And as you can imagine, as the election campaign gets under way and enters its final throes, Theresa May is probably going to be accused by her opponents for having seized upon this situation here to gain political point-scoring, Hannah. But the reality is also she may be slightly embattled having been the home secretary for a number of years before stepping into the steps of Number 10 Downing Street following David Cameron's departure after the Brexit vote. So the big question is she presided over many years of cuts to the police force and so on and so forth. Now that obviously this is the third time that we've seen terror enter the fray, if you like, enter the political arena and obviously people's lives here in the U.K. under her short tenure, the big question is how exactly is she going to be responding in tangible terms when it comes to policing and so on and so forth to prevent these kinds of attacks if she does get reelected in three or four days' time -- Hannah?

VAUGHAN JONES: Nina, the message from both the prime minister and the mayor of London, everyone really in the authorities, is that London should go about their daily business. I'm sure where you are, from your vantage point, certainly where I am, that does, indeed, seem to be the case, that everyone is getting on with their daily business. But daily life continues with an increased security presence on the street. And that's something that most of us here are going to have to start getting used to.

DOS SANTOS: I'll give you an example of this. Even before the attack took place over the course of the weekend on London Bridge, I myself was traveling to Paris. And I've never seen queues so long to get on the train between Paris and London. It gives you an idea of these two countries that have faced terrorist attacks over the last couple of years. France still in a state of emergency. The U.K. having raised its terror threat level just a couple of weeks ago from severe to critical, then back down to severe again. Theresa May over the next three days is probably going to have to face some question, even though that terror threat level is actually set by an independent committee, she's probably going to face a lot of questions about why this country isn't yet again under a state of critical alert.

But you're right. The British people having to deal with extra security, that does mean extra time for -- security checks for transports, large concerts, gatherings.

But I should point out the British people are well known for their stoicism in the face of events like this. That's been a big message on the Twittersphere, elsewhere across the U.K. But you do have reminders of the situation the country is in today. The flags are flying at half-mast right across Westminster -- Hannah?

[01:35:10] VAUGHAN JONES: Nina, thanks very much.

Nina dos Santos, live for us on Downing Street.

There will be floral tributes across London piling up today, not too dissimilar from the scenes we saw in central Manchester just a couple weeks ago after the terror atrocity there. Floral tributes on traffic island just in front of me, also behind me as well where you can also see a huge police presence around this cordon around London Bridge where Saturday night's attack took place.

John, back to you now in Los Angeles with more.

VAUSE: Hannah, thank you. Well, a show of support from the French. The Eiffel Tower in Paris

went dark Sunday night to honor the victims of the London attack. Third time in a week. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged his solidarity.

France has seen almost a dozen terror-related attacks in just the past few years.

CNN's Cyril Vanier joins us from Atlanta.

Cyril, France has been dealing with a surge of terrorism which seemed to start with the "Charlie Hebdo" attack more than two years ago. How have French authorities dealt with that threat, and what are the lessons there for the U.K.?

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR: John, I'm afraid after two-plus years of covering French terror attacks, the lessons for the U.K. not very comforting. One, for as bad as things have been in the U.K. with three terror attacks in three months, this may just be the beginning. France has been facing this for two and a half years now. And if you had told them back in January in 2015 that would be the case, they would not probably have believed you.

Two, the type of potential targets could be a lot wider, and that list could get a lot longer. I mean concert-goers and landmarks in the capital city in London have been targeted in the U.K. In France, you have to add to that list Jews, journalists, soldiers, policemen, priests, people traveling on international rail connections, and the list goes on. So the list -- the potential list of targets is really very long.

Also I think the U.K., we may learn weeks or months from now, is under resourced to face this threat. Certainly, that was the case for France. And France is currently in the process of hiring thousands of soldiers and hundreds of people for its intelligence services because they simply were not staffed to handle a permanent high level of threat on their soil. So these are the first few lessons really learned from covering this from the French point of view.

And also this. The politicians immediately said to French people, there is going to be another attack. It's not a matter of if. It's a matter of when. You're not hearing that from British politicians right now. I suspect that has to do with the fact that they're just days removed from a general election.

VAUSE: The politics certainly are playing a big role in all of this. And we did hear from the British prime minister, Theresa May, over the weekend. And what she said, in some ways, had a lot of parallel to what the French prime minister said after the "Charlie Hebdo" attack.

VANIER: That's true, John. There was one sentence in particular in Theresa May's speech that caught my attention. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAY: We need to live our lives not in a series of separated, segregated communities, but as one truly United Kingdom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VANIER: So while most people will be remembering another part of her speech where she says enough is enough and she seems to be suggesting that she might be able to prevent other attacks, that's the one that struck me most because it really echoes what the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was saying more than two years ago now after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks. He was saying there is in France social, territorial, ethnic apartheid in the country. Why would he choose to lecture French people and give them what sounded like a sociology lecture a day after terror attacks in the country? It's because you have these two Western leaders, at the time the French prime minister, and now the British prime minister, who feel that it is the structure of their society and their country that is partly responsible for the violence that was meted out against compatriots in the country. I think that's very interesting because it's a conversation, frankly, that if you draw the lessons from France, doesn't get to go to its end. As these attacks continue, people just want security and they want extra, added security in the streets of their country.

[01:39:28] VAUSE: Cyril, thank you. Of course, your experience covering all of this from your time there in France, most appreciated at a time like this. Thank you.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, trouble for a powerful alliance in the Middle East. Four countries have cut ties with Qatar, claiming the country supports terrorism.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: We will continue to follow developments out of the London. But there is another breaking story that's out. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE have all cut diplomatic ties with Qatar.

CNN's Mohammad Lila joins us from Abu Dhabi.

Mohammad, what's behind this diplomatic rift?

MOHAMMAD LILA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you ask these countries, they say it's because they've been accusing Qatar for quite some time of supporting international terrorism, specifically a group called the Muslim Brotherhood. This is going to have a major ripple effect in the region. Everything from aviation to diplomacy to the military alliances currently going on, and that has an air bombardment campaign against Yemen.

John, I can't underemphasize how important this will be to the region. You've got four countries that are major players in the region. At least two of them are major players -- three of them, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and Bahrain. All of them overnight shutting down their airspace to Qatari flights, telling Qatari residents in their countries that they have roughly 14 days to leave, expelling all country diplomats and recalling all of their diplomats from Qatar. This is more than just a small disagreement. This is a major rift that's now developing in a region that many people would say can't afford any more instability. The reality is that's what we're about to say.

VAUSE: Specifically, it does seem to be that there is this allegation that on Qatar's official state-run news website, there's these remarks attributed to Qatar's ruler, criticizing growing anti-Iran sentiment, which Qatari said was faked, it was hacked, we didn't do it. But that seems to be, what, the excuse or the trigger?

LILA: Well, there's an interesting back story behind this, right? In late May, a Qatari website posted an article where Qatar, one of his rulers, allegedly took a more conciliatory tone towards Iran. Of course, we know Iran is seen with a lot of hatred in some of these countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. When that statement was put out, Qatar officially denied it. They say their website was hacked and the statement didn't reflect official policy. Saudi Arabia and Egypt and the UAE didn't buy that. They blocked some of those websites. And there's been a spat developing over the last couple of weeks specifically about that.

You have to remember Qatar shares a large natural gas field with Iran. I believe it's the biggest in the region, if not the world. And so for Qatar to come out, whether it was true or not, but to be accused of being closer to Iran, than some of its Arab allies, it's certainly a very sore spot for countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. And so you can see sort of this rift has been brewing for the last few days, last few weeks really, and this is the latest step. But, you know, completely severing ties is something that nobody in this region really forecast would happen.

[01:45:41] VAUSE: It is the biggest natural gas oil field in the world from what I understand.

But just very quickly, the immediate fallout for anybody not in the region, we're looking at the price of crude oil, which seems to be going up.

LILA: That's right. I think the price of crude oil is already trading at more than $50 a barrel. Think about aviation, that you've got major airlines in the region that fly dozens of times a day to Qatar. It has Qatar Airways, which has a number of flights to Europe and the United States. By closing off airspace, this is going to make the operation of Qatar Airways much more difficult, as well as other people who are just transiting through the region. So we're sort of very closely monitoring this fallout over the coming hours.

VAUSE: Mohammad, thanks so much for being with us. Mohammad there live in Abu Dhabi.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, Muslims speaking out against the devastating London attack. We will hear from a spiritual leader in just a moment.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) [01:50:28] UNIDENTIFIED WITNESS: We're going to carry on, loving each other, living with each other, being in different parts of the world in the melting pot that is London. I'm going to go back and have a strong drink, and I hope other people do too. Because if, you know, if drinking gin and tonics and flirting with handsome men and being friends with brilliant and powerful women offends these people so much that they do those barbaric, vile and cowardly acts, I'm going to go back and do more, not less.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUGHAN JONES: The spirit of London really wrapped up there in the words of just one man who is an eyewitness to Saturday night's horror.

Flowers, notes, tributes are now pouring in, of course, for the victims of Saturday's terror attack. The community in London is, indeed, shaken. But many of the survivors are urging this great city to unite. They're asking people to be brave and to come together against violence.

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UNIDENTIFIED ATTACK SURVIVOR: Regardless of what you believe in or where you stand with politics or any kind of faith, I feel like it has united the people against such a terrible, terrible thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUGHAN JONES: Well, a British Imam (INAUDIBLE) joins me now.

Imam, thanks very much for being with us.

Inevitably, in the aftermath of these sorts of attacks, everyone wants to know what the Muslim community reaction is. So I put it to you now, being involved with one of the largest mosques in London, what has been the reaction of your community?

UNIDENTIFIED IMAM: Our hearts and sympathies go out for the people of London and people of Britain and those that have been affected directly and those that are aggrieved. This in no way represents the religion of Islam. The religion states there is no compulsion in religion. Anyone who kills one innocent person, it's like killing the whole humanity. That is a quote from the Koran. When people misuse the name of the religion, it hurts us. That's why we want to reach out to people. We were here yesterday. And across the country we've been reaching out to people and opening ourselves up so that if people have questions, they can come and ask us. We need to explain to people at this moment in time, we need to unite because these are worrying times.

VAUGHAN JONES: In almost all of these cases with terror atrocities, it seems to be vulnerable, radicalized, young Muslim man who are carrying out these sorts of atrocities. What can you do as a community to try to stamp out this radicalization at such a young age?

UNIDENTIFIED IMAM: I think you're asking the right person because in our community, there's not one person who has turned to radicalization. There's a couple of reasons for that. From the very young age of 7, we teach our kids loyalty to our nation is important to our faith. We recite a pledge in our youth meetings which says I'm willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of my faith, which is important, but also for my country and my nation. If kids are brought up with that message from a very young age, it has a huge impact. Also we're saying that mosques across the U.K., they should be monitored by the governments to see what is being preached inside. It was criticized at that time that this was perhaps spying, but we feel that the safety of the people, that is most paramount, and that needs to be given priority.

VAUGHAN JONES: We don't yet know the details, the identities of the attackers. We do know about the Manchester bomber. We know he was second generation. It does seem a trend that these second-generation men have come to this country and are still somehow radicalized. What is your experience perhaps in your own mosque of dealing with young people who perhaps have north African parents, for example, and they don't quite fit into any one society?

UNIDENTIFIED IMAM: I think we don't have the issue, but there are people from different backgrounds within our community, and what we do is that we involve them from a very young age. We involve them through charity works. They don't turn to any form of radicalization because they're so readily involved in positive works. That needs to be across the board. Our youth are more interested in picking up shovels and going out and helping flood victims. They're more interested in giving their blood for the sake of people. We're launching campaigns to raise money. We're launching campaigns to give our blood for the victims of the attacks. Just today, we're launching a campaign where Muslim youth will be giving one hour's wage for the victims of the Manchester attacks. Our youth know the true teachings of Islam because they've been taught it regularly. If the emphasis is laid on the Muslim community, it will have an impact.

[01:55:00] VAUGHAN JONES: Just briefly as well, we've seen world leaders respond, almost everyone condemning, of course, the attack. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, did take to Twitter and almost politicized the incident by talking about his travel ban as well. How important is it to talk about unity rather than division?

UNIDENTIFIED IMAM: It's absolutely very important to talk about unity at this moment in time. There will be a lot of people who have questions, and they need to be assured rather than increasing further divisions. Here in the U.K., you know, we're reaching out to people everywhere. I think at this moment in time, it's very important to the government to increase its security but also to reassure people, I mean, just a couple of days back before, the threat level was reduced from critical to severe. We feel that until there is a sense that there is a long-term peace and control over terrorism, such action should not be taken.

VAUGHAN JONES: We really appreciate the work you're doing in trying to bring about some sort of peaceful solution to this crisis.

Thanks very much for joining us. And thank you to viewers around the world for watching us here at CNN.

I'm Hannah Vaughan Jones, in London for you.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause in Los Angeles.

Please stay with us. Max Foster is up next, out of London.

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