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Officers revealed Sunday that they fired an “unprecedented” 50 bullets at the attackers, who wore fake suicide belts to maximize panic and fear.

Three terrorists shouting “This is for Allah” as they stabbed at their victims were killed by police just eight minutes after the alarm was raised shortly after 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Now The Daily Telegraph has learnt that police had been monitoring an extremist cell in that area since March.

An unnamed friend of one of the terrorists claimed Sunday he had reported the man to the police anti-terrorist hotline after he became radicalized by watching extremist videos on YouTube. He said the attacker had listened to hate speeches by the infamous American Islamist Ahmad Musa Jibril.

A neighbour of one of the suspected attackers claimed she had reported him to Barking police two years ago, after he began “brainwashing” her children at a local park.

She said she had confronted him after her two children came home and said “Mummy I want to become a Muslim.”

Police confirmed Sunday that three men drove at speed across London Bridge in a hired van, knocking down pedestrians, before leaving the vehicle at nearby Borough Market and marauding through bars and restaurants stabbing and slashing indiscriminately at victims.

One of the terrorists reportedly shouted “this is for my family, this is for Islam” as he plunged a knife into a 23-year-old victim who is now in hospital.

In the recent surveillance operation in Barking last month one suspected jihadist discussed what appears to be an identical plot.