London Bridge terror attack: safe havens and ongoing terrorism

Just day's ahead of the UK elections, London suffers another terrorist attack with seven killed and 48 injured people taken to hospitals - 21 victims remain in critical condition.

Attackers, who were subsequently shot dead by London's Metropolitan firearms antiterrorist unit, drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge on Saturday late evening before stabbing people in and around bars/restaurants in Borough Market. A number of arrests have been made today of 12 people thought to be connected to the atrocity in an investigation that is progressing rapidly.

Islamic State has since claimed responsibility for the London Bridge terrorist attack, issuing a statement through its propaganda news service today.

In response to the attack, PM Theresa May vowed a tougher response to the Islamic extremism. Meanwhile, the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn accused the Prime Minister of denying resources in the fight against terror, scathing May for cutting police manpower by 20,000 despite warnings this would undermine safety.

The London Bridge attack occurred just days ahead of a June 8 U.K. parliamentary election that has tightened unexpectedly in recent days. While May is expected to keep her majority, several polls have suggested her Conservative Party has slowly surrendered a once commanding lead.

At this juncture, terrorism is widespread throughout Europe and the current approaches to eliminate such threats in Western society, and indeed in Islamic nations world-wide, is proving unsuccessful. Regrettably, it has become the norm in cities throughout Europe where open border policies have enabled combatants to move freely throughout Europe.

On the 23rd May, the day after the Manchester bomb when Salman Ramadan Abedi, a 22-year-old British Muslim, detonated a shrapnel-laden improvised explosive device that killed twenty-three adults and children, including Abedi, also leaving 119 were injured, The Times published an article headed, "Huge scale of terror threat revealed: UK home to 23,000 jihadists".

"About 3,000 people from the total group are judged to pose a threat and are under investigation or active monitoring in 500 operations being run by police and intelligence services. The 20,000 others have featured in previous inquiries and are categorised as posing a “residual risk,” The Times article read.

Regrettably, it can be expected that more will follow in the UK and Europe, potentially hurting the associated currencies and likely supporting the yen, CHF and gold. GBP/USD opened with a bearish gap of around 30 pips today and gold is +0.08% at the time of writing having opened $1.00 higher.