LONDON'S 8 MINUTES OF MAYHEM
London toll rises to 7 as hunt for accomplices start
IT took just eight minutes for London police to hunt down and kill three terrorists in central London yesterday. But in that time the Islamic fanatics had slaughtered seven people and injured another 48 using just a van and knives. The attack will have implications for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
SEVEN people are dead and dozens — including an Australian woman stabbed in the neck — injured after three Islamic terrorists rampaged through central London, running down and stabbing people at random before being shot dead by police.
The eight minutes of terror — the third multiple-fatality attack in the UK in 2½ months — was carried out in and near the busy Borough Market entertainment district just after 10pm on Saturday, when the area was packed with evening revellers.
The three terrorists, wearing clothing meant to look like explosive vests and screaming “this is for Allah’’, drove a van south across London Bridge, mowing down pedestrians on the footpath, before getting out of the van and stabbing people at random in Borough, just over the bridge.
Two Australians have been confirmed among the injured, with at least one among the 48 people rushed by ambulance to five hospitals across central London.
The terrifying attack ended at 10.16pm — eight minutes after police received the first call for help — when heavily armed officers shot the butchers dead in Stoney St. Photographs showed one of the dead men on the footpath wearing what appeared to be canisters strapped to his body. Police later confirmed the suicide vests were hoaxes and not explosive devices.
Prime Minister Theresa May said it was believed the attacks were “potential acts of terrorism’’ and, just before 4am, The Met senior counterterrorism officer Mark Rowley confirmed those fears.
“We are treating this as a terrorist incident and a full investigation is already under way, led by the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command,’’ the Assistant Commissioner said.
“We are reviewing and planning to strengthen our policing stance ... and there will be additional police and officers deployed across the capital.’’
The attackers used large knives with 30cm-long blades, while one appeared to be wearing an Arsenal football supporter’s top.
They stabbed men and women at random, as frantic nearby bar patrons fought back by pelting them with bar stools and pint glasses, and anything else they could lay their hands on.
The trio roamed through the winding streets of the Borough Market district and entered the Black and Blue Steakhouse on Stoney St, slashing and stabbing patrons inside, before going back onto the street and being confronted by police.
Hundreds of terrified people sheltered inside bars and restaurants as managers locked the doors and police issued a “run, hide and tell’’ alert, urging people not to
surrender but to try to get away as fast as they could.
As dawn broke, the van remained in place, wedged against a lamppost on the Borough High St, while heavily armed police were seen mobilising, likely preparing for raids on associates of the three attackers.
Large parts of London remain cordoned off and train and tube stations are closed around the Southwark, London Bridge and Borough area, south of the Thames and just to the south of the city’s CBD.
Commissioner Cressida Dick urged people within the cordon to stay inside.
Witness Gerard Vowls told the BBC that he saw “three Muslim guys’’ stabbing a woman 10-15 times south of London Bridge.
“They started running in all the pubs, all the bars. They were stabbing everyone. I was throwing bottles at them, pint glasses, stools,’’ he said.
The attacks occurred five days before the UK election and led the Conservatives, Labour and the SNP once again to suspend all election campaigning. The campaign had been suspended two weeks earlier when a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester.
Despite social media pressure to suspend the election, it is likely to go ahead as planned on Thursday, with numerous MPs and London mayor Sadiq Khan among those calling for it to go ahead.
Mrs May was due to chair an emergency meeting of the national security committee Cobra overnight.
The terror threat level in the UK is at its second-highest level, severe, after being dropped from the highest level, critical, after it was briefly raised following the Manchester attacks.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said two Australians were “directly affected’’ by the terror attacks.
One of those women is believed to be in hospital with stabbing injuries in her neck.
“Foreign Minister (Julie Bishop) spoke to the parents of both Australians. One case has been confirmed and the Australian concerned is in hospital,’’ he said.
“In the other case, we are continuing to make inquiries. Our officials will continue to provide every assistance they can to Australians affected by this shocking attack and their families.”
French media reported two French citizens among the wounded.
New Zealand man Oliver Dowling, 32, from Christchurch, was also repeatedly stabbed but was recovering after four-hour surgery, according to his sister.
Mr Rowley said an onduty British Transport Police officer, who was stabbed in the face, head and leg as he responded to the incident, was another of those injured. He said: “Armed officers responded very quickly and bravely, confronting three male suspects who were shot and killed in Borough Market.’’