UK TERROR ATTACK
Australian woman stabbed in throat
A QUEENSLAND woman was stabbed in the throat in the minutes after three attackers leapt from their white van after running down pedestrians on London Bridge.
Candice Hedge, who moved to London from Queensland a year ago, is one of two Australians caught up in the terror attack, the ABC said.
She has reportedly called friends and family back in Australia to say that she had been stabbed in the throat, but the wound had missed her windpipe and major arteries.
The three assailants stabbed passers-by at random after smashing into pedestrians, killing seven people in a popular nightlife hub in London before being shot dead by armed police.
As they rampaged through the bars around London Bridge, the attackers wore what looked like suicide vests which turned out to be “hoaxes”, said Mark Rowley, head of counter-terrorism policing.
Forty-eight people were rushed to hospitals in the area, according to the London Ambulance Service.
“They were stabbing everyone. They were running up and going ‘This is for Allah’,” a man called Gerard told the BBC, adding that he had seen the assailants stabbing a girl and had tried to confront them.
Another witness called Eric said id he had seen three men come out of a white van after hitting pedestrians and thought they were going to help. p.
But instead they “started kicking g them, punching them and took out knives. It was a rampage really,” he said, adding that he also heard a shout of: “This is for Allah”.
France said two of its citizens were injured in the attack, one seriously, and President Emmanuel Macron, said his nation — which has suffered its own wave of terror attacks — was “more than ever at Britain’s side.”
The injured also included a police officer who was one of the first responders on the scene and was stabbed in the face and leg.
Police said the three men were shot by a police armed response team within eight minutes of receiving the first call at 10:08 pm local time.
The attack came only minutes after the end of the Champions League final between Real Madrid and Juventus, in an area teeming with bars where many fans were watching the football on television.
Britain is on high alert only 12 days after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert in Manchester and ahead of the June 8 vote, in which security is a major theme.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed Macron’s message of solidarity, saying her country was “resolutely at Britain’s side”.
US President Donald Trump offered his help, tweeting “WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!” — and highlighting his thwarted ban on travellers from six mainly Muslim countries. US pop star Ariana Grande, whose concert in Manchester was the scene of last week’s fatal terror attack, tweeted: “Praying for London.”
Witnesses described the van speeding into several pedestrians on London Bridge and then the knifewielding men sprinting towards bars packed with revellers enjoying a Saturday night out.
Several people said they were ordered to stay inside pubs and restaurants by police and eventually had to come out with their hands on their heads.
Italian photographer Gabriele Sciotto, who was watching the foot- ball at the Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market, said he saw three men shot just outside the pub.
In a picture he took, a man wear- ing combat trousers, with a shaved head and what looked like a belt with canisters attached to it could be seen on the ground with two more bodies behind him. “In two or five seconds, they shot all the three men down,” Sciotto told the BBC.
In an address to the Australia, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government was aware of reports of “two Australians who have been directly affected by this attack”.
The families of both victims had been notified.
The prime minister declared Australia’s “absolute solidarity” with Britain.
“Our prayers and resolute solidarity are today as always with the people of Britain in the face of the shocking terrorist attacks in London,” Mr Turnbull tweeted.
‘They kept coming to try to stab me … they were stabbing everyone. Evil, evil people. ‘