LATEST: Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Theresa May has taken aim at Donald Trump after the President claimed that the suspects who carried out the Parsons Green attack this morning were known to police.
The Prime Minister slammed Trump’s comments about the ongoing investigation as not “helpful”, adding police and security services were still working to discover the “full circumstances” of the “cowardly attack”.
The rush hour blast, which took place on the Underground’s District Line at 8.20am, left 29 people injured.
Pictures on social media from the scene of the incident showed a fire in a bucket with what appeared to be wires sticking out.
Trump took to Twitter to comment on the situation just hours after the explosion.
Writing that London had been attacked by another “loser terrorist” who was “in the sights of Scotland Yard”, he demanded that police “must be proactive” and the internet should be cut off to stop extremism.
The President used his third tweet about the attack to push his so-called Muslim travel ban in the US, saying it should be “far larger, tougher and more specific”.
Asked about Trump’s comments after an emergency Cobra meeting this afternoon, May said: “I never think it’s helpful for anybody to speculate on what is an ongoing investigation.
“As I have just said, the police and security services are working to discover the full circumstances of this cowardly attack and to identify all those responsible.”
The Prime Minister’s response was echoed by her former chief of staff, Nick Timothy, who tweeted: “True or not - and I’m sure he doesn’t know - this is so unhelpful from leader of our ally and intelligence partner.”
The Metropolitan Police were equally quick to dismiss Trump’s accusations that the force was aware of the attacker before the explosion, calling his comments “speculation”.
A spokesperson for the force told The Independent: “We don’t even know who the suspects are so it’s a bit difficult to say. It’s just speculation.”
However, Sadiq Khan refused to be drawn into the debate, saying he was “absolutely not going to go there”.
The Mayor of London’s response comes just months after Trump called Khan “pathetic” in the wake of the London Bridge attacks, accusing him of telling Londoners there was “no reason to be alarmed”.
Speaking to LBC host James O’Brien about Trump’s tweets, Khan said: “I’ve simply been too busy this morning to look at my Twitter.
“I’m absolutely not going to go there James, my priority is making sure that we do what we can to keep Londoners safe.
“Our priority today is catching the individual or individuals responsible, and the police and security services, and all of us are doing our bit to make sure that happens.”