Macron confirms third French victim in London attack

A third French citizen has died following last week's terror attack on London Bridge, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, taking the overall death toll to eight.

The French national's body was found in the Thames river, London Metropolitan Police said.

"We have, this morning, the confirmation of a new toll. There are three deaths and eight wounded on the French side," Macron was quoted by Fox News as saying.

"It is a heavy toll that we pay in these attacks," he added.

Police had been searching for Xavier Thomas, a French man who had been missing since three assailants ploughed a rented car into crowds on London Bridge and attacked people in Borough Hall with knives on Saturday.

The French national was walking with his girlfriend over the bridge when the attack began. Witness accounts suggested Thomas might have been thrown into the river, police said.

Thomas's girlfriend was struck and seriously injured in the attack.

Le Parisien newspaper named the second Frenchman slain in the attack as 36-year-old Sebastien Belanger, while the other French victim was 27-year-old Alexandre Pigeard.

Police identified the three London Bridge killers as Youssef Zaghba, Khuram Shazad Butt and Rachid Redouane. All three men were shot dead by officers responding to the scene.

At least two of the men were known to British intelligence and law-enforcement officials, raising questions about whether anything could have been done to prevent the assault.

--IANS

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