Kiwi man witness to London mosque attack

A New Zealand man has witnessed the carnage outside a London mosque after a van hit several pedestrians.

Aucklander Chris Norris told 1 News he was just 100m from the Finsbury Park mosque in north London when he heard a "horrific bang".

"So I jumped up and I looked down the road and I saw a van. There was two guys that got out of the van and ran down the road towards where the main road was."

Two people are feared dead after pedestrians were struck by a white van near the mosque.

One man has been arrested but it is feared two more suspects may have fled the scene.

Norris said he saw the driver of the van running toward a gate before being caught by a group of men.

"They beat him as soon as they caught him. So that's kind of the scenario I was presented straight away, was them grabbing the guy and just pummelling him to the ground really and then just continued to kick him and stuff," he told 1 News.

Norris described the men from the van as "white guys".

He told 1 News he believed it was an "anti-Muslim attack".

"It's right outside the mosque. Because it's right next to the mosque I think they were probably waiting for a chance to do it."

One person has been stabbed after a man armed with a knife leapt out of a vehicle near the mosque, the Evening Standard reports.