Terror again hits London

Witnesses tell of panic, knife attacks

A British police officer helps secure the area Saturday night in central London after an attack on London Bridge and the nearby Borough Market area in the heart of the British capital.
A British police officer helps secure the area Saturday night in central London after an attack on London Bridge and the nearby Borough Market area in the heart of the British capital.

LONDON -- Terrorism struck Saturday in the heart of London, police said early today, when a vehicle veered off the road and mowed down pedestrians on London Bridge, then gunshots rang out amid reports of knife attacks at nearby Borough Market.

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AP/DOMINIC LIPINSKI

A helicopter lands on London Bridge late Saturday after a van reportedly slammed into pedestrians.

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AP/MATT DUNHAM

People put their hands over their heads early today as they exit a police cordon around London Bridge in central London.

Police said six people died in the attacks, and officers fatally shot three suspects. The Metropolitan Police Service's head of counterterrorism, Mark Rowley, said authorities believe all of the attackers were killed but that investigations are underway to ensure there are no more.

The London Ambulance Service said more than 30 people were taken to hospitals for treatment and that a number of other patients were treated for less serious injuries.

The violence turned a summery Saturday night in an area full of bars and restaurants into a scene of panic and chaos, with officers running through crowded streets screaming for people to flee and drafting boats from the Royal Naval Lifeboat Institution to help get people away from the scene.

Hours after the attacks began, a large area of central London remained cordoned off, and police told people to avoid the area, leaving tourists and revelers struggling to get home.

Bursts of gunfire echoed through the streets, and at least three blasts rang out as police performed controlled explosions.

Witnesses reported seeing at least one man with a large knife.

Prime Minister Theresa May called the attack a potential act of terrorism, and the Metropolitan Police force said it had declared the attacks "terrorist incidents."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan in a statement condemned the incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market, describing them as "a deliberate and cowardly attack on innocent Londoners."

He also urged the public to remain calm as the situation continued to unfold.

Police said they were called just after 10 p.m. about reports of a vehicle hitting pedestrians on the bridge, which crosses the River Thames in central London.

Soon after, there were stabbings reported at nearby Borough Market, a popular spot for pubs and restaurants just across London Bridge on the southern side of the Thames.

Armed police officers were sent to the scenes, and shots were fired, according to reports. It was unclear if the officers fired the shots.

The police agency initially reported that officers also were responding to an incident near Vauxhall, also south of the Thames but miles away. But it said later that that turned out to be an unrelated stabbing.

The agency tweeted a warning to people in the London area, telling them to run to safety, hide and then call police if it was safe to do so.

May said that "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."

May's office said she would convene a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee today.

'Multiple' casualties

About two hours after the first reports of violence, television images showed people walking away from the London Bridge area with their hands on their heads. Police tweeted that Londoners should "remain calm but be alert and vigilant."

Nick Brandon of British Transport Police said the agency had received reports of "multiple" casualties in an incident possibly involving a knife and a vehicle.

Multiple witnesses reported a vehicle veering off the road and hitting several pedestrians; others said they also saw a man with a knife.

Witnesses reported seeing injured people on the ground on the bridge.

Holly Jones, a BBC reporter who was on the bridge at the time of the attack, said the van was driven by a man and was "probably traveling at about 50 miles an hour."

"He swerved right round me and then hit about five or six people," Jones said. "He hit about two people in front of me and then three behind."

Gerard Vowls told The Guardian newspaper that he saw a woman being stabbed by three men at the south end of London Bridge. He said he threw chairs, glasses and bottles at the attackers in a bid to stop them.

"They kept coming to try to stab me; they were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people," he told the newspaper. "I want to know if this girl is still alive. I've been walking around for an hour and a half crying my eyes out. I don't know what to do."

Photographer Gabriele Sciotto said he was on his way home from a pub when he saw a man running toward him and telling him to turn around and run because there was a terrorist attack. As a documentary filmmaker, though, Sciotto's instincts were to keep going, he said.

He said that at first, "it didn't look too dangerous."

The attackers went into Borough Market but then turned around and ran toward the Wheatsheaf Pub after being confronted by a police officer, he said, and suddenly a lot of officers arrived from the other direction.

The attackers "had no clue what they were doing. They were scared. The police were scared," he said.

After one of the men was shot, Sciotto, 25, captured a photo of the suspect on the ground wearing what appeared to be canisters strapped to his chest.

Rowley, at a dawn news conference, said the men had not used explosives, adding the vest was "a hoax."

A man who gave only his first name, Ben, told BBC radio that he "saw a man in red with a large blade, at a guess 10 inches long, stabbing a man, about three times" near Borough Market.

Cellphone video from a restaurant in the market showed people diving under tables amid the sound of breaking glass as officers rushed in and ordered patrons to stay down.

As thousands of people flooded from the area of the attacks -- many unable to get home with nearby subway stations shut -- residents were quick to offer assistance.

The Royal Oak pub, near the area of the attacks, opened its doors to people evacuated from hotels. At least one taxi company offered free rides to people stranded in the area. Phaldip Singh, who describes himself as an entrepreneur and youth activist, tweeted that Sikh temples were open to provide food and shelter for those affected.

If confirmed as terrorism, this would be the third attack to hit Britain in as many months.

In March, a British convert to Islam ran down people with a vehicle on Westminster Bridge in London, killing four, then stabbed a policeman to death outside Parliament.

On May 22, a suicide bomber killed 22 people and injured dozens at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. A concert to raise money for the victims of that attack is scheduled for today.

After the May 22 attack, Britain's official threat level for terrorism was raised to "critical," meaning an attack may have been imminent. Several days later it was lowered to "severe," meaning an attack was highly likely.

British leaders scrambled to respond to the attacks.

May, who had been out campaigning ahead of an election scheduled for Thursday, returned to Downing Street for briefings by security officials.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labor Party, said on Twitter: "Brutal and shocking incidents reported in London. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. Thank you to the emergency services."

U.S. President Donald Trump was briefed on the incident and immediately took to Twitter to say: "We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!"

After taking criticism online for trying to use the attack to advance a policy goal that is now under review in the courts, he sent a follow-up tweet minutes later: "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!" Some of the words in his tweet were in capital letters.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the agency was monitoring the situation in London.

Information for this article was contributed by Danica Kirka, Jill Lawless, Niko Price and staff members of The Associated Press; by Steven Erlanger, Stephen Castle, Stephen Farrell, Jim Yardley and Eric Schmitt of The New York Times; and by Griff Witte, Rick Noack, Karla Adam, William Booth and Devlin Barrett of The Washington Post.

A Section on 06/04/2017

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