Man shot dead by police after killing three and seriously injuring up to twelve others near Parliament Buildings in London attack

Conservative Member of Parliament Tobias Ellwood, centre, helps emergency services attend to an injured person outside the Houses of Parliament, London, Wednesday, March 22, 2017. London police say they are treating a gun and knife incident at Britain's Parliament "as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise." The Metropolitan Police says in a statement that the incident is ongoing. It is urging people to stay away from the area. Officials say a man with a knife attacked a police officer at Parliament and was shot by officers. Nearby, witnesses say a vehicle struck several people on the Westminster Bridge. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP).

A man has been shot dead by police at Westminster in London after he entered the grounds of the Houses of Parliament and stabbed a policeman just after 2.30pm this afternoon.

The incident happened after a 4×4 vehicle mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed down up to twelve pedestrians and cyclists according to the Daily Express newspaper.

At least four ( including terrorist) people are reported dead, and others have suffered catastrophic injuries.

Commander BJ Harrington of the Metropolitan Police said there were ‘a number of casualties’ in the Westminster attack ‘including police officers’. At least 10 people have been treated on Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament, and a number of hospitals are on alert, London Ambulance Service said.

The Daily Mirror newspaper wrote that ‘One woman has been pulled alive from the River Thames.’ The Guardian newspaper wrote that The Port of London Authority had confirmed that ‘a seriously injured woman’ was recovered from the Thames river.

Spokesman Martin Garside said, ‘A female member of the public was recovered alive from the water, but with serious injuries. She has been brought ashore and is undergoing urgent medical treatment. The working assumption is that she fell or jumped from the bridge.’

Commander Harrington released a statement which said, ’Although we remain open-minded to the motive, a full counter-terrorism investigation is already under way.

This is led by the Met Counter-Terrorism Command. At this stage I will confirm what we know has happened but I will not speculate. We 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.

Officers were already in that location as part of routine policing but immediately additional officers were sent to the scene and that included firearms officers.

We are working closely with the London ambulance service and the London fire brigade … 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 …’

The London ambulance service deputy director of operations, Pauline Cranmer, confirmed that ‘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.’

The Houses of Parliament are on lockdown and Theresa May was bundled into a car by police and driven from the danger zone.

 

Norway Today / Photo NTB scanpix