The London attack is still very sketchy but it is being termed as a terrorist attack
This afternoon in London, a police officer was stabbed and a suspected assailant shot outside the Houses of Parliament, shortly after a car rammed into members of the public on Westminster Bridge, in what police have described as a “terrorist incident”.
Early reports indicate the car, which mounted the pavement on Westminster Bridge and mowed into around a dozen people, was the same vehicle which then rammed into the railings of the Palace of Westminster, just around the corner.
The crowd on the bridge was a group of French school children according to Sky TV reports. It not yet known how many were either killed or injured by the car plowing through the children on the bridge.
Security sources described the suspected assailant as a middle-aged Asian man, who is understood to have left the car before attacking a police officer with a seven-to-eight-inch knife.
At least one woman has died and a number of others, including the police officer, have been hurt, according to a spokesperson at St Thomas’ Hospital. Some were described as having “catastrophic” injuries.
Witnesses told authorities that at least three gun shots were heard by those inside Westminster, and proceedings in the House of Commons have been suspended.
According to BBC deputy speaker of the Commons, David Lidington, announced the suspension in the House, saying a police officer had been stabbed and the “alleged assailant shot by armed police”.
Dozens of police, many armed, ran around the gate of parliament in the moments after the shots were fired.
Nearby the main gate, just outside the entrance to Westminster Hall, a crowd of police and paramedics crouched over one of the victims and just a few yards away police pointed their weapons to an individual who was lying motionless on the floor. Paramedics worked furiously pulling medical supplies from their bags and dressing wounds.
Video used in this story is from Sky News