i want to bring in cnn national security analyst peter bergen. peter, we're looking at video. this is just a short time ago. people with their hands on their head walking by police officers. again, three separate situations that london police are responding to right now. one on london bridge, one in the borough market where there was a stabbing and a separate incident happening in vauxhall. what's your assessment of what's going on right now? >> first of all, multiple incidents doesn't suggest random acts of violence. it suggests a coordinated terrorist attack. it also suggests a conspiracy involving multiple people. the fact that theresa may is summon a cobra meeting. this is essentially the top national security b officials of the united kingdom getting together to discuss what's going on. i would add for that that isis called for attacks in the west during the month of ramadan that we're now into. we don't know who's behind these attacks but this doesn't appear to be random acts of violence. they selected london bridge, one of the most iconic markets the world for the first

i want to bring in security analyst peter bergen now joining us. you have been listening. we're starting to get more information about who was on scene here. we have now confirmed that there was an event at the mosque this evening and that people outside the mosque appear to be the target of this vehicle that plowed into pedestrians. we don't know exactly the motivation. we don't know the person who was behind the wheel. we don't have the information about the number of casualties. what we do know from police is there was a vehicle and collision with pedestrians and officers responded to the scene along with other emergency services. there were a number of casualties being worked on at the scene one person has been arrested. that's the only information out there. this mosque apparently had a lot to do with what was happening in that area at the time when this attack occurred. >> yeah, so we have had absolute ly no evidence that the perpetrator that this was an accident or that he was impaired in some way. we have the muslim council s saying muslims were deliberately target

all right, let's discuss all of this with peter bergen, cnn national security analyst, and terrorismn gohel. sajen, with the president's most recent statements, in a terror attack in the city where you are, the president in the last 24 hours has been critical in a somewhat dishonest way, very dishonest way, of london mayor sadiq khan and statements that the mayor made saying there was no reason to be alarmed about police on the streets. your take on what the president has done and whether or not that helps on the situation in the aftermath of this attack. >> look, i mean, the most important thing right now is the investigation itself, to ascertain whether these individuals were part of a cell, whether this was assisted, directed or inspired by isis. i understand that tempers are frayed, not just in the uk, but perhaps across the pond as well. it is important that cool heads prevail. we all have to work together on this, and the uk especially depends on the united states for assistance and cooperation, and many americans have given a lot of support and sympathy to what's happened. i'm

. >> peter bergen, juliet, thank you. please stand by. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >> we are following breaking news out of london right now where a van has hit a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque. these are some pictures from the immediate aftermath. there are reportedly several casualties. at least one person is under arrest. a young woman who could see the scene from the window of her home tells us two people were lying on the ground and that a police officer was performing a cardiac massage on one of them. she also described people screaming and crying for help trying to get the attention of police and medics. another witness who was inside the mosque when this happened said she had no doubt muslims were targeted. but police have not confirmed that right now. the muslim council of britain did release the following statement, quote, we have been informed that a van has run over worshippers as they were leaving simsbury park mosque. our prayers are with the victims. it is located off seven sisters road.

as we were hearing earlier from peter bergen, if it was the target it is a significant target for thee will be back in a moment as the investigation continues. really... let's see how quickly you can read through all their awards. 2017 motor trend car of the year. kelly blue book 2016 best resale value... u.s. news best cars for the money 10 best blah blah blah only about 90 more to go! 2017 iihs...top safety. 2017 north american car of the year! that's a lot of awards! get 17% below msrp on all chevy traverse lt models in stock. that's over $6,700 on this chevy traverse. find new roads at your local chevy dealer. are you happy that you switched? yes - i switched to sprint and their unlimiteplan is half at you pay with verizon for a family of four. you could save over $1000 in the first year! that works for me. (vo) unlimited! $22.50 per month per line. for people with hearing loss, don't let a 1% difference cost you twice as much. visit sprintrelay.com. modejane, you'rerves getting a ticket. pay. online and on your phone nope. it's been masterpassed. for the little victories, am i ri

peter bergen is joining us on the phone.er bergen, what is your take on what you are seeing in this image of the people and the police vehicle there on the scene? >> reporter: well, as kim dozier was saying, i mean this part of london is, you know, an area that has a heavy muslim population, the fensbury park mosque which is not far from where the incident happened is a rather notorious mosque where a number of islamist militants used to gather. we don't know what this incident is. you know, it is strange, as juliette kayyem was saying earlier. if you were trying to get massive media attention on a sunday night in, you know, in this area past midnight, it is kind of a strange selection of target if, indeed, this is terrorism. on the other hand, you know, places like westminster bridge or london bridge offer these events and other kind of iconic targets in london are closely guarded. we just had for instance i believe in the last 48 hours a man with a knife was arrested outside the houses of parliament in london, precisely be

tom fuentes and peter bergen, peter, after at tacks you hear from the political leadership, days awayection. listen to the tougher tone from the prime minister here and try to help me understand what she means. >> while we have made significant progress in recent years, there is to be frank far too much tolerance of extremism in our country. we need to become far morrow bust identifying and stamping it out. >> is that a maessage to do a better job? >> i think it's a political message. think back to the spanish election of 2004, a big terrorist attack in madrid which killed 191 people three days before the election. it resulted in the prime minister being ejected despite the sitting prime minister was leading in the polls. this late in the electoral cycle when you have this event and after all theresa may is a conservative party supposed to be "stronger on terrorism" you had three attacks in three months the british public may be saying is this really the right leadership. she called the election she was very much doing well in the polls but her lead narrowed. these event are unpredict

and peter bergen joins us from washington. he is a vice president at new america. peter, let me ask you, does this strike you as terrorists adapting yet again? because what is interesting about this to me is it's in many ways very low tech. a van going into crowds, people brandishing knives and using them as weapons. of course, guns are very hard to get in britain. maybe i'm just trying to look for a silver lining here. all of that means they're finding it hard to do big bombs at symbolic locations and that kind of thing, and what they are reduced to is driving vans and using knives, which is, of course, terrible and tragic, but you can only kill so many people, particularly if the police responds as quickly as they did in this case. >> sure. for that silver lining, we look to manchester where only two weeks ago a bomb detonated killed 22 people. so i think the problem, fareed, is britain has, you know, thousands of people who have been influenced by this idealogy. something like 850 brits have gone for training in syria and iraq. compare that to america where reall

>> cnn national security analyst peter bergen and paul crookshank is with us. about that and something we have not mentioned today just yet. ramadan. the timing of this. isis has called on followers to attack where they can with what they have at hand. so, paul, do you believe that we will see more of these attacks through june 24th now that we are in the holy month of ramadan? >> that is sernlt concern and isis have called for the surge of attacks in ramadan and did that last year as well. we saw the orlando shootings during that period. also a terrorist attack in france. they have done the same this time. they are telling their followers around the world that they will be rewarded ten times more in paradise if they carry out these attacks during this period. obviously, extra concern because it is an election coming up here in the uk and in paris, there was an attack on the police just before the first round of the presidential election in april. and, of course, a very big kind of underlying threat here in the uk with 3,000 individuals that they think are pote

cnn national security analyst peter bergen. what is unique right now an ongoing police operation for whoever might be behind what they are now treating as terror attacks. >> they've done that in the past couple of years. the attack in florida who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in orlando. he did that in ramadan. a terror incident, an isis-inspired incident? we don't know yet. we've seen al qaeda and yemen directing attacks or attempted attacks. the political context, teresa may, the prime minister, face as general election on june 8. her lead has very much narrowed with the labor party which is the main kind of challenger to her and when you see what is happening in the uk, we always talk about the british having a stiff upper lip and reacting in a measured way and i think that's partly true. when you have these attacks and we don't know what the death toll is, it could be fairly significant, it looks like a campaign and the question will be does that help teresa may? she was the home secretary which is the most important

bring in the panel, cnn counterterrorism analyst phil mudd and cnn national security analyst, peter bergen. it's good to have you both here. phil mudd, take us through the assessment of what happened here? what are you looking at? >> you look at what happened and why it happened. people are confusing the two over the past 12 hours. we know someone, evidently by his own words targeted a muslim community outside london. there's a quick translation of that to assume it is a terror attack. people on the investigator's side don't make that assumption initially. terrorism involves motive. what was he thinks? simple questions like did he have an ex-girlfriend in the area at the mosque, that leads into the discussion about whether it's terrorism. we should know that today. you've got to differentiate in the investigation immediately whether we think it was terrorism. i believe it was. and whether we know it was a terror or hate crime attack, we're not certain yet. as the prime minister suggested, i think we'll know quickly. >> peter, another important distinction, this is not, it appears what the

>> our international diplomatic editor nic robertson is joining us from 10 downing street and peter bergen is with me in washington. police say they know the identity of the three attackers, they have not yet scleesrelease details. w why? >> they don't want the names getting out and perhaps having evidence changed or hidden. the police at the moment say that they are confident that they know who they are. this is a fast paced moving investigation that they have secured and seized significant quantities of evidence in the property raids they've put into place. they also say they've arrested 12 people. one of them has been released. the ages of the people range from 19 to 60. but at the moment the police are indicating that they will release the names of the attackers, but they're not doing so far at this time. when the chief, the metropolitan police was asked earlier in the day was there any evidence that this had been somehow influenced from outside, the claim of course unsubstantiated climb by isis that these attackers were representing isis. she refused to comment precisely on this parti