The Latest: Police chief: attack hit a cosmopolitan London

LONDON – The Latest on the van-and-knife attack in London a week ago (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

The commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police says the nationalities of the eight victims in the terrorist attack on London Bridge tell a proud story of London's unique makeup.

Cressida Dick told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday: "It's desperately sad and poignant but among those who died is someone who's British, there are French, Australian, Canadian, Spanish."

"In terms of our witnesses that we've spoken to so far, out of the 300 odd people, there are about 20 different countries of origin. And the London British population comes from all kinds of backgrounds and every kind of faith and ethnicity."

She said longtime Londoners value the international nature of the British capital.

"We believe of course that that's what makes our city so great," she said.

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11:05 a.m.

Spain's Foreign Ministry says a British autopsy concluded that Ignacio Echeverria, the Spaniard who confronted assailants during last weekend's attacks in London, died after being stabbed in the back.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, speaking anonymously in line with official policy, said Saturday that Echeverria's family shared the information with the ministry after the autopsy was performed on Friday.

Witnesses described seeing the 39-year-old Echeverria using a skateboard against attackers before he fell to the ground during last Saturday's attacks on and near London Bridge. He was employed in London by HSBC bank.

Seven other people also died in the attack on June 3.

—By Joseph Wilson in Madrid

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10:15 a.m.

British police have arrested two more suspects over the London Bridge attack, after revealing that the carnage could have been worse had the attackers succeeded in their goal of renting a truck, rather than a van, to mow down pedestrians.

London's Metropolitan Police said Saturday that they arrested a 27-year-old man and a 28-year-old man overnight in east London on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism. Police have seven people in custody over suspected links to the three attackers who killed eight people on and around London Bridge on June 3.

Police released details of their investigation as they appealed to the public for information, saying that showed Khuram Butt, believed to be the plot's ringleader, originally tried to rent a 7.5 ton truck. After his payment was declined, Butt and his two accomplices rented a smaller van.

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8:50 a.m.

The carnage of the London Bridge attack could have been worse: One of the attackers tried to rent a larger truck that could have killed more people, but his payment was declined. The bloodthirsty gang was also shot dead before they could make their way back to the van where their petrol bombs were stored.

In a rare glimpse into the weeklong investigation, police released details on Saturday that showed Khuram Butt originally tried to rent a 7.5-ton truck. The intended truck was smaller but similar to the one used in the Nice attack last year that killed 86 people and injured hundreds in the resort town in the south of France.

After his payment was declined, Butt and his two accomplices rented a smaller van that they used to plow into crowds before they leapt from the vehicle and went on a stabbing rampage in an attack that left eight people dead and nearly 50 people injured. It was the third such deadly attack in Britain in three months.