Islamic State claims responsibility for London terror attack

London : The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's London attack, media reports said.

According to a report in the BBC on Sunday, IS' news outlet Amaq, on the messaging app Telegram, said "a security unit of Islamic State fighters carried out the London attacks yesterday".

An IS group propaganda outlet exhorted would-be jihadists to carry out vehicle and knife attacks on civilians just hours before three terrorists went on a rampage in central London, Xinhua reported.

According to media reports, the message sent out on an encrypted messaging app, urging attackers to "gain benefit from Ramadan" and "kill the civilians of the Crusaders. Run over them by vehicles".

British police said 12 people have been arrested so far after the attack, which left seven people dead and 48 injured. Among the wounded, 21 people are in critical condition.