Finsbury Park mosque attack: Isis calls on supporters to take revenge in wake of latest London terror atrocity

‘Wake up the war is starting now in your own streets’

A man walks past messages and tributes left near to where a van was driven into a group of Muslim worshippers in North London (Reuters)

Isis extremists operating online have used the terror attack outside a mosque in north London to call for more violent assaults on the West.

One person died and nine were hospitalised after white British suspect Darren Osborne, 47, drove a van into people leaving midnight Ramadan prayers on Monday at the busy mosque next to Finsbury Park station.

Osborne is in custody, and the incident is being investigated by police as a terror attack.

As news of the incident broke, posts from far-right extremists and white supremacists surfaced on Facebook, praising the attacker as a “hero” and “patriot”.

“About time, actually it's past time to start striking back,” one post read. “The muslims are asking for it and your going to get it BIG TIME [sic],” said another, presumably in reference to the recent Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge attacks.

Several civil rights groups have warned that Islamophobic sentiments and hate crimes against the UK’s Muslim population have been on the rise in the past few months in the wake of the Isis atrocities.

While Isis itself is guilty of killing thousands of Muslims, supporters of the jihadists are using the Finsbury Park incident - the most violent manifestation of anti-Muslim hatred in the UK recently - to call for more violence in the West, which they claim is legitimate in the face of Islamophobic attacks.

“Oh Muslimeen when your brothers took revenge on the crusader nationals for the slaughter they are carrying out on the Muslims, they were shot on site by the the British Police.

“Then how come the Police never shot a Kaafir [non-believer] (sic),” Telegram messages verified by terrorism analyst Michael S Smith read.

“Oh Muslims you need to wake up the war is starting now in your own streets outside your own Masajids [mosques]. Your elders could be killed, your sisters could be attacked,” one such post continued.

Many public figures have pointed out that the Finsbury Park attack has achieved exactly what Isis wants - to spark a ‘clash of civilisations’ between Muslims and non-Muslims.

“These people, these extremists, their aim is to divide our communities, is to spread hatred, fear and division among our communities,” Mohammed Kozbar, Finsbury Park Mosque chairman told the crowd at a vigil in the area on Monday evening.

“We all have harmony in this area, and these people try to divide us, but we tell them that we will not let you do that.”

The attack on Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park is the third major incident for the capital’s emergency services in less than a month, following the London Bridge attack which killed 8 and the Grenfell Tower disaster, in which at least 79 people are missing.