US President Donald Trump today called British Prime Minister Theresa May after the London terror attack and pledged to continue "close collaboration" with the UK to stop attacks worldwide, the White House said.
During the telephone call, Trump conveyed his sympathies and prayers for those injured in the attack, the White House said in a statement. "The president pledged to continue close collaboration with the United Kingdom to stop attacks worldwide targeting innocent civilians and to combat extremism," it said.
An improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on a packed underground train at a London station today, injuring at least 22 people in the fifth terrorist attack this year, which May said was "clearly intended to cause significant harm".
Earlier, Trump in a brief interaction with reporters described the attack as a terrible thing. "It is a terrible thing -- just keeps going and going. And we have to be very smart and we have to be very, very tough, which perhaps we're not nearly tough enough. That is just an absolutely terrible thing," he said in response to a question.
Meanwhile today, when Trump called the terrorist incident in London as another attack "by a loser terrorist", May rebuked him by asking not to "speculate".
She dismissed the speculative tweet from Trump that claimed Scotland Yard had the so-called "bucket bomber" in terror attack on a London Underground train in their "sights". The explosion, on a District Line Tube in the British capital's southwest, occurred as the train pulled into Parsons Green station. Commuters said they heard a bang and saw a fireball inside the carriage when the "bucket bomb" exploded.
Several people suffered facial burns, some reportedly were even trampled in the rush to escape. But none of the injuries were life threatening.
Scotland Yard said it was a terror incident and they "assess" an IED triggered the blast. A hunt was on for a suspect the British media labelled as the "bucket bomber".
