The London Bridge hero who armed himself with a 5-ft long narwhal tusk is a chef who helped tackle the terrorist despite being stabbed, say friends.

The knife wound didn't stop the Polish immigrant, named only as Lukasz, from "giving him (the attacker) a beating" with the tusk which he had grabbed off a wall at nearby Fishmongers' Hall.

Friends said Lukasz was working at the hall when convicted terrorist Usman Khan, 28, launched his attack at a University of Cambridge conference on prisoner rehabilitation, killing two and injuring three.

In the aftermath, Twitter users hailed Lukasz for his bravery and for his choice of weapon as a group of heroes, including one with a fire extinguisher, tackled and pinned down the killer, who was armed with two knives and wearing a fake suicide vest.

The Queen on Saturday praised the "brave individuals who put their own lives at risk to selflessly help and protect others".

Do you know Lukasz or any of the heroes? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk.

A man named Jordan, who works at the hall as a chef and witnessed Friday afternoon's attack, said the terrorist had “gained access and attacked a few workers with a knife".

Jordan wrote on Twitter: “A good lifelong friend Luckasz was stabbed.

“Luckasz took on the attacker, being stabbed didn’t stop him giving him a beating from what I’m told.

(Image: Twitter)

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"He’s in a stable condition after being stabbed in his hand.”

A man and woman were killed and three others were injured in the rampage, which came to an end as armed police shot and killed the knifeman at point-blank range on London Bridge.

Coralie, another witness, who was working at the event at the hall, told reporters she saw two or three victims, including Lukasz, who had been stabbed.

(Image: Twitter)

Some of them were bleeding profusely, she said.

One of her colleagues was stabbed three times, she added.

Coralie told Yahoo! News: “I was in the building when I heard the screams and one girl ran towards me because she got stabbed in her arm and everyone inside the conference started to panic.

Lukasz was stabbed “trying to fight" with the attacker, she added.

A friend told the Times: "Lukasz grabbed a nearby pole and ran at him, getting stabbed in the hand in the process but continued to pin him down.

"Being stabbed didn't stop him giving him a beating. Luckasz is a hero."

One of the roughly half dozen heroes was a murderer on day release while he attended the conference.

James Ford, 42, was jailed for life in 2004 for the murder of 21-year-old Amanda Champion, who was found strangled with her throat cut in Ashford, Kent, in July 2003.

(Image: Cliff Hide/LNP)

Tour guides Thomas Gray, 24, and Stevie Hurst and an off-duty plainclothes police officer also helped to disarm or pin down the attacker as armed police raced to the scene.

Mr Gray has told how he stamped on Khan's hand as the killer clutched a kitchen knife.

The heroes didn't know that the suicide vest was fake when they risked their lives to stop the terrorist, whose attack came just three weeks after the UK's terror threat level was downgraded.

Originally from Stoke, Khan was a convicted terrorist who had been a member of an al-Qaida-inspired group that plotted to blow up the London Stock Exchange nine years ago.

He wanted to build a terrorist training camp on land owned by his family in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

The UK-born terrorist had been living in Stafford after he was released from prison on licence in December 2018.

Khan had previously participated in Cambridge University's Learning Together prisoner rehabilitation programme but had showed "no cause for concern," a source with knowledge of the programme told PA.

Khan and ex-offenders who helped to stop him had been invited to attend the conference at Fishmongers' Hall after having previously participated in the programme.

It is understood that Khan started "lashing out" in a downstairs room of the hall but was grabbed by the conference-goers and bundled out of the front door as he tried to go upstairs.