London terror attack: Suspect 'thrown out of mosque for claim that voting is un-Islamic'

'He seemed an uneducated person with no knowledge of religion'

One of the terror suspects killed by police during the London attacks was reportedly thrown out of his mosque after he interrupted a sermon to say that voting in the general election was “un-Islamic”.

The suspect, who has not yet been publicly named but whose identity neighbours believe they know after his East London flat was raided, is understood to have been attending the Jabir Bin Zayd mosque in Barking.

The manager of the mosque, who did not want to give his name, reportedly told the Mail Online the suspect aggressively halted the iman as he advised the community to vote.

“He started saying that voting was un-Islamic and we shouldn’t do it," the manager said.

“He got very angry. I called him aside and said, please calm down. He refused, so I removed him. Thank God he followed me.

“When we got outside the room, he said you don’t have any authority over me, only God has authority because this is a house of God. I said that might be true, but I am in charge.”

He added that the suspect did not appear to be well schooled in Islam.

“He had no special friends here. He would arrive, pray and then leave. He said hello to people but generally kept himself to himself,” the manager added.

“He seemed an uneducated person. He seemed to have no knowledge of religion.”

He added that following the outburst, the suspect was banned from the mosque and had not been seen there since.

The three suspected terrorists were shot dead by armed police within eight minutes of the atrocity beginning when a van ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge.

Three men then got out of the vehicle and indiscriminately began stabbing people in bars and restaurants of the bustling Borough Market area. Seven people were killed and at least 48 people injured, 21 of them critically.

Police have arrested 12 people in connection with the atrocity following dawn raids on flats in Barking. A woman was one of those arrested but is now thought to have been released.

A flat in nearby East Ham was also raided with armed police dragging away two suspects, according to witnesses.

Local resident Malik Rouf, 30, said one of the men inside the flat leapt from a first-floor window on to a ledge before he was pulled back inside.

Neighbours told reporters the men who lived there “seemed normal”.

“I'm surprised if they're terrorists,” he added.

“One of them used to wear the traditional robes but I didn't see them that often. If there's explosives there then that's scary in the flat next door.”

He said seven people lived in the flat, a mixture of men and women.

Another neighbour, who didn’t give his name, said the men called themselves sheiks and were “spiritual Muslims”.