An video grab obtained from the Twitter account of Polish politician and journalist Radosaw Sikorski, shows a man on the ground receiving assistance on Westminster Bridge on March 22, 2017 in London during an incident. Pic/AFP
London: A policeman was stabbed inside the perimeter of Britain’s parliament building on Wednesday, an assailant was shot outside and several people lay bleeding on a nearby bridge, witnesses and officials said.
A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on Westminster Bridge and photographs showed people lying on the ground, bleeding heavily. The number of casualties was unclear. The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was immediately suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside.
Prime Minister Theresa May was safe after the incident, a spokesman for her office said. He declined to say where May was when the attack took place. The leader of the House, David Lidington, said in the chamber that an assailant who stabbed a policeman had been shot by police. Amid confusing scenes, it appeared the incident may have unfolded in several locations, including the busy bridge where tourists often congregate to take pictures of Big Ben and other attractions.
In a related incident, a woman was killed when a speeding grey Hyundai i40 mowed down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge nearby before ramming into the iron railings on the side of the Palace of Westminster – which houses the House of
Commons and Lords as well as the iconic Big Ben.
Several injuries were reported as a result of this crash, with bodies seen lying on the bridge and one over-board in the river Thames.
“We are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,” the Metropolitan Police said on Twitter.
The incident took place on the first anniversary of attacks on Brussels in Belgium. Reuters reporters inside parliament said a large number of armed police, some carrying shields, were pouring into the building. Britain is on its second-highest level of “severe” meaning an attack by militants is considered highly likely. In May 2013, two British Islamists stabbed to death soldier Lee Rigby on a street in southeast London.
#WATCH Shooting outside UK Parliament. (rescue visuals from Westminster Bridge) pic.twitter.com/fCVCBudxm1
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 22, 2017
In July 2005, four British Islamists killed 52 commuters and themselves in suicide bombings on the British capital’s transport system in what was London’s worst peacetime attack.
British police treating incident near parliament as terrorism-related
British police said they were treating an incident in which a policeman was stabbed inside the perimeter of Britain’s parliament building as a terrorist incident. “Officers – including firearms officers – remain on the scene and we are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise,” police said in a statement.
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