Militants drove a van at high speed into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing Saturday night revellers on the street and in nearby bars, killing at least six people and wounding more than 30.
Armed police rushed to the scene and shot dead the three male attackers in the Borough Market area near the bridge, as authorities urged Londoners on Twitter to “run, hide, tell” if they were caught up in the violence.
The attacks come days ahead of a June 8 election and less than two weeks after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a pop concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in Manchester in northern England. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
“Sadly, six people have died in addition to the three attackers shot by police,” Mark Rowley, Britain’s top anti-terrorism officer, said. He said the three attackers had been wearing what looked like explosive vests that were later found to have been hoaxes.
The BBC showed a photograph of two possible London attackers shot by police, one of whom had canisters strapped to his body. Hours after the attack the area remained sealed off and patrolled by armed police and counter-terrorism officers.
The London ambulance service said more than 30 people had been taken to hospitals across the city. Three major London hospitals were on lockdown to keep patients and staff safe.
A Reuters reporter said some time after the attack began that he had heard loud bangs near the Borough Market area, but these appeared to be controlled explosions by security services.
Streets around London Bridge and Borough Market, fashionable districts packed with bars and restaurants, would have been busy with people on a Saturday night out.
Witnesses described a white van careering into pedestrians near London Bridge and knocking over several people.
“It looked like he was aiming for groups of people. I froze because I didn’t know what to do,” Mark Roberts, 53, a management consultant, told Reuters. He saw at least six people on the ground after the van veered on and off the pavement.
“It was horrendous,” he said.
A taxi driver told the BBC that three men got out of the van with long knives and “went randomly along Borough High Street stabbing people.”
Witnesses said people ran into a bar to seek shelter.
“People started running and screaming, and the van crashes into the railing behind. We went towards Borough Market and everyone went inside (the bar). Everyone in the bar started pushing people from the exits,” one witness who gave his name as Brian, 32, told Reuters.
Another witness, who declined to be named, his white top covered in blood, described a scene of panic in the bar.
“They hit the emergency alarm. There was a line of people going down to the emergency exit. And then people started screaming coming back up,” the 31-year-old said.
“Around the corner there was a guy with a stab wound on his neck … There was a doctor in the pub and she helped him. They put pressure on the stab wound.”
BBC radio said witnesses saw people throwing tables and chairs at the perpetrators of the attack to protect themselves.
ISLAMIC STATE CALL
The BBC showed dozens of people, evidently caught up in the attack, being escorted through a police cordon with their hands on their heads.
Islamic State, losing territory in Syria and Iraq to an advance backed by a U.S-led coalition, sent out a call on instant messaging service Telegram early on Saturday urging its followers to launch attacks with trucks, knives and guns against “Crusaders” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Similar attacks, in Berlin, Nice, Brussels and Paris, have been carried out by militants over the past two years.
“Following updates from police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism,” Prime Minister Theresa May said.
London’s Thames river police said it worked with the lifeboat rescue service to help evacuate people caught up in the attack, described by police as a terrorist incident.
U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter to offer U.S. help to Britain. The White House said he had been briefed on the incidents by his national security team.
GUNSHOTS
The incident bore similarities to a March attack on Westminster Bridge, west of London Bridge, in which a man killed five people after driving into a crowd of pedestrians before stabbing a police officer in the grounds of parliament.
Several witnesses also reported hearing gunshots around London Bridge.
“We were in an Uber (taxi) going towards London Bridge and suddenly we saw people running. The Uber stopped, we asked people what was going on – people said there was shooting,” said Yoann Belmere, 40, a French banker living in London.
“Now the area is completely closed with police cars going one way and ambulances going the other,” he told Reuters.
A witness told CNN two men had entered a restaurant in the Borough Market area and stabbed two people inside. He said a waitress was stabbed in the throat and a man was stabbed in the back.
The Manchester bombing on May 22 was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.
Factbox: London Bridge attack – What do we know so far
At least six people were killed by militants who drove a van at high speed into pedestrians on London Bridge and then stabbed revellers in the nearby Borough Market area on Saturday.
For the main story on the attack:
All three attackers were shot dead by police. More than 30 injured people were taken to hospital.
The following is what is known so far:
– Three attackers drove a white van at high speed into pedestrians walking on London Bridge, police said.
A witness told Reuters that at least six people were hit on the bridge.
“It looked like he was aiming for groups of people. I froze because I didn’t know what to do,” Mark Roberts, a 53-year-old management consultant, told Reuters. “It was horrendous.”
Police said they responded to the incident on London bridge at 2208 (2108 GMT).
– The men armed with knives left the vehicle and attacked people in the nearby Borough Market area on the south side of the Thames, witnesses said.
Witnesses said the attackers stabbed people in the street and in pubs and restaurants in Borough Market.
– Police said armed police had responded to the reports of stabbings in Borough Market and shots had been fired.
“Armed response officers then responded very quickly and bravely and confronted the three male suspects who were shot and killed on Borough Market,” Mark Rowley, Britain’s top anti-terrorism officer, said.
“The suspects had been confronted and shot by police within eight minutes of the first call. The suspects were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes,” he said.
The men were wearing what appeared to be canisters attached to their bodies. One of them was shown in a photograph lying on the ground outside the Wheatsheaf pub.
Another man, was also reported to be an attacker, was pictured on the ground a short distance away. Witnesses said they heard gunfire in the area.
The police said the vests were later established to be hoaxes. A Reuters reporter nearby said he heard loud bangs afterwards that may have been controlled explosions.
– Terror attack? At 0025 British time on Sunday the incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market were declared as terrorist incidents.
“Following updates from police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism,” Prime Minister Theresa May said just over four days before voting is due to begin in a June 8 national election.
“This is a fast moving investigation,” May said. “I want to express my huge gratitude to the police and emergency services who are on the scene. Our thoughts are with those who are caught up in these dreadful events.”
May will chair a meeting of Britain’s “COBR” emergency response committee on Sunday morning. Intelligence and security chiefs as well as senior ministers and officials attend the meeting.
London’s Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation.
– Who? It was not clear who might be responsible for the attack.
Islamic State earlier on Saturday sent out a call on instant messaging service Telegram urging its followers to launch attacks with trucks, knives and guns against “Crusaders” during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
– The attack came less than two weeks after a suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew himself up at a concert in Manchester on May 22, killing at least 22.
Britain raised its terror threat to the highest level of “critical” and deployed troops on the streets on May 23, a day after the Manchester suicide attack. The critical level means another attack could be imminent. It was reduced to “severe”, which means an attack is highly likely, on May 27.
On March 22, Khalid Masood ploughed a rented car into pedestrians and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead. Five were killed by the attacker.
– The United Kingdom is due to hold a national election on June 8.
– U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: “Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U.K., we will be there – WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!”
– A separate incident in Vauxhall, two miles away, was not related to the other two incidents police said.
Reuters