A man who lives near the scene told the Press Association he jumped out of the way as the van struck pedestrians.

"The gentleman went straight down this road, people were just conversing, talking, just doing what we're doing and he just came into all of us," he said.

"There was a lot of people. We got told to move straight away. I was shocked, shocked, shocked. There were bodies around me.

"Thank God I just moved to the side, I just jumped. Everyone is hurt. Everyone is actually hurt."

The Muslim Council of Britain says the vehicle hit people as they were leaving Finsbury Park mosque.

Police were alerted just after 12.20am on Monday to a collision on Seven Sisters Road, which runs through the Finsbury Park area of the city.

A witness told Sky News at least ten people were hit by the van.

"From the window, I started hearing a lot of yelling and screeching, a lot of chaos outside. ... Everybody was shouting: 'A van's hit people, a van's hit people'," a woman who lives opposite the scene told the BBC.

While police have not confirmed whether the incident was a deliberate attack, one eyewitness has told the Guardian it was not accident.

Boubou Sougou said the driver deliberately veered into people on the pavement. 

Sougou, 23, said: " It was not an accident, I saw everything. People were badly injured. The van driver tried to escape but people grabbed him. He did not say anything."

Some witnesses claim they saw three men in the van which hit the pedestrians, saying two fled while the other man was wrestled to the ground by bystanders and pinned down until police arrived a short time later.

 

 

British police have sealed off the road outside Finsbury Park tube station in north-east London, after a van drove into pedestrians near a mosque, injuring several worshippers.

Witnesses reported seeing the white hire van accelerate to hit pedestrians who were leaving the mosque after a prayer meeting.

At least one person is believed to have been stabbed in the chaos which unfolded early on Monday morning local time.

A man was shown on video being held by police behind a police vehicle. British police have confirmed one man has been arrested and taken into custody.

Emergency services treated a number of casualties at the scene with a number of serious injuries reported.