Woman suspect shot in UK raid
A WOMAN in her 20s is in hospital after being shot by British police, while four people were arrested during terror raids in London and Kent.
The injured suspect is being held under police guard after being rushed to hospital in a serious condition following the swoop at a north London address.
Police said she was a subject of an ongoing investigation by counter- terror officers who are searching several addresses across London.
The raids are not connected to an earlier incident when a man carrying knives was arrested near Downing St on suspicion of planning a terror attack, Scotland Yard said.
The woman was shot as officers entered an address in Willesden shortly before 7pm on Thursday local time.
Video posted online appeared to show heavily armed police clad in black storming a terraced house as loud bangs rang out.
One onlooker described seeing “loads of police with balaclavas, streets cordoned off, ambulances”.
Police said a 16- year- old boy and a 20- year- old woman were arrested at the property and a 20- year- old man was detained nearby.
A 43- year- old woman was arrested in Kent shortly after the raid and all four are being held at a south London police station on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts.
The injured woman has not been arrested due to her condition, which police described as “serious but stable”.
Police said the property and people connected to it had been “under observation by counter- terrorism officers as part of an ongoing intelligence- led operation”.
Further searches at linked addresses across London were continuing.
The incident has been referred to the Metropolitan Police’s Directorate of Professional Standards and the Independent Police Complaints Commission ( IPCC) “as a matter of course”, Scotland Yard said.
The 27- year- old man arrested near Downing St at 2pm was a known threat, according to police.
Undercover police were waiting for the man after they were tipped off about his alleged plans by a member of the Muslim community concerned about his behaviour, according to sources.
He was followed by police and MI5 operatives as he travelled towards Westminster.
Police seized at least two knives from the man, who was pinned to the ground and held for more than half an hour before being taken away.