Five men in “religious robes” are reportedly being held after armed police raided flats in Barking following last night’s Islamist terror attack near London Bridge.

The flat was home to one of the suspected terrorists behind the van and stabbing rampage, sources told Sky News.

According to the broadcaster, a witness claimed to see a number of women wearing Islamic dress speaking to police while the raid was being carried out. Footage showed an ambulance outside the Kings Road flats.

A police statement said: “Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command have this morning, Sunday 4 June, arrested 12 people in Barking, east London, in connection with last night’s incidents in London Bridge and the Borough Market area. Searches of a number of addresses in Barking are continuing.”

Tara Milan told The Telegraph four men were detained in the flats but one man tried to escape armed police. She said: “I saw them bringing them out of the flat opposite, around 7 am.

“One man tried to flee and they shot him outside my house. They put him in an ambulance and then the others in a police van.”

https://twitter.com/DNV_official/status/871307619423707136

Neighbour Ali Nabi told The Telegraph: “I heard the police shouting ‘get down, get down’, I looked out of my window and they were laid on the floor. All Asian men in black religious robes.

“One was in his 50s, another had a white beard, the third was in his 30s and the fourth was younger. They were all laid down with their hands cuffed behind their backs.

“I think it was someone on the ground floor but I’ve never seen them.”

Five people arrested in flats in Barking #LondonTerrorAttacks pic.twitter.com/q9x9Z37XWc — Nicky Harley (@nickyharley) June 4, 2017

Lots of police activity at Kings Road in Barking, the address of one of the dead London Bridge attackers. Four others detained here earlier pic.twitter.com/yAKq7fMe3T — Mark White (@skymarkwhite) June 4, 2017

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