Four people have died, including a police officer, and at least 20 people were injured in a major terror attack outside the Houses of Parliament, the Metropolitan police have confirmed.
Mark Rowley, the head of counter-terrorism at the Met, said a police officer had been killed and his attacker shot. Two other people died after a vehicle drove at speed, mowing down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near parliament at about 2.40pm on Wednesday.
One woman is believed to have been thrown over the bridge into the river Thames – and later pulled alive from the water – while another fell on to a hard surface below the bridge.
At least 20 people were injured on the bridge, and many of them were seen lying in the road. A diplomatic source told Reuters three French students had been injured in the attack.
The vehicle came to a halt on the pavement, up against railings to the north of New Palace Yard, the green space adjacent to Big Ben, opposite an entrance to Westminster tube station.
A man with a knife was then seen running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster, across New Palace Yard and stabbing a police officer. The Guardian understands that the police officer died. The attacker continued his rampage, targeting a second officer, according to witnesses, but was shot by police as he approached the second officer clutching his knife.
In the aftermath of the attack, the Foreign Officer minister Tobias Elwood reportedly helped treat the injured officer. The Bournemouth MP, a former soldier, was pictured helping the police officer in Parliament Square. His brother Jonathan was killed in the 2002 Bali terror attack.
Colleen Anderson, a junior doctor, said a female pedestrian had died. She also said she treated a police officer in his 30s with a head injury who had been taken to King’s College hospital. “I confirmed one fatality. A woman. She was under the wheel of a bus. She died, confirmed her death at the scene,” she said.
Commander BJ Harrington, Head of the Met’s public order command, said a full counter-terrorism investigation was under way. “We know there are a number of casualties, including police officers, but at this stage we cannot confirm numbers or the nature of these injuries,” he said.
Harrington said the Met received a number of different reports, which included a person in the river, a car in collision with pedestrians and a man armed with a knife. Police officers were already at that location as part of routine policing but additional officers, including those with firearms, were immediately sent to the scene.
The acting Met commissioner was driving by parliament on his way to a meeting when the attack took place. he said. He left his vehicle to help officers deal with the incident and is being treated as a witness.
Theresa May was in the Commons lobby when the incident occurred, according to the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt. He was with other ministers in a cabinet sub-committee when they were told of the incident.
The Commons leader, David Lidington, told MPs that a “police officer has been stabbed” and the “alleged assailant was shot by armed police” following a serious incident within the parliamentary estate.
Lidington said: “There are also reports of further violent incidents in the vicinity of the Palace of Westminster but I hope colleagues on all sides will appreciate that it would be wrong of me to go into further details until we have confirmation from the police and from the house security authorities about what is going on.”
Pictures emerged after the incident showing people lying injured on Westminster Bridge, some of them bleeding.
Two people could be seen lying within Old Palace Yard, immediately outside Westminster Hall. The sitting in the House of Commons was suspended while police officers sealed off the area. Staff inside parliament were told to stay inside their offices.
Minutes after the incident, an emergency services helicopter landed in Parliament Square, as sirens were heard outside. Air ambulance medics came from the helicopter to assist the casualties.
Immediately before the incident, at about 2.45pm, people were seen running from the direction of Westminster Bridge and around the corner into Parliament Square.
A Downing Street source confirmed that the prime minister, Theresa May, was “OK”. May was seen being ushered into a silver Jaguar car as what sounded like gunfire rang out at parliament during the incident.
A meeting of Cobra, the government’s crisis committee, was expected to meet later, with senior officials from government, counter-terrorism officials and police present.
Police asked people to avoid the following areas: Parliament Square, Whitehall, Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Victoria Street up to the junction with Broadway and the Victoria Embankment up to Embankment tube.
The London ambulance service deputy director of operations, Pauline Cranmer, said: “We can confirm we have treated at least 10 patients on Westminster Bridge and have put a number of hospitals on alert as we continue to respond to this incident.
“We were called at 2.40pm today, with the first ambulance crew arriving within six minutes. We have sent a number of resources to the scene including ambulance crews, London’s air ambulance and our hazardous area response team.
“We are working closely with other members of the emergency services at the scene, with our priority being to ensure patients receive the medical help they need as quickly as possible.
“We have declared a major incident and our priority is to assess patients and ensure that they are treated and taken to hospital as soon as possible. As we are very busy dealing with this incident, we would ask the public to only call us in a genuine emergency.”
(TheGuardian UK)
