4 dead, many hurt in UK parliament ‘terrorist’ attack
Terrified eyewitnesses describe Westminster terror attack
LONDON: At least a dozen people were injured and four reported dead in London on Wednesday after a car crashed into pedestrians near the British parliament and an assailant stabbed a policeman in what police called a terrorist incident. The knifeman was then shot by police in the shadow of Big Ben, where he had tried to force his way into a courtyard just outside the Houses of Parliament.
The incident appeared to have unfolded in several locations, including on nearby Westminster Bridge where eyewitnesses said a car had crashed into pedestrians. Reporters inside parliament heard loud bangs and shortly afterwards saw two people lying on the ground in a courtyard just outside.
A photographer said he saw at least a dozen people injured on the bridge. His photographs showed people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding heavily and one under a bus. Sky News reported two people had died, but the total number of casualties was unclear. The London Ambulance Service said it had treated at least 10 people on the bridge.
The incident took place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels. “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.
“We know there are a number of casualties including police officers but at this stage we cannot confirm numbers or the nature of these injuries,” Commander BJ Harrington told reporters. “We received a number of different reports which included a person in the river, a car in collision with pedestrians and a man armed with a knife.”
French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said three French nationals were injured. French media reported they were high-school students. “I just saw a car go out of control and just go into pedestrians on the bridge,” eyewitness Bernadette Kerrigan told Sky News. She was on a tour bus on the bridge at the time. “As we were going across the bridge, we saw people lying on the floor, they were obviously injured. I saw about 10 people maybe. And then the emergency services started to arrive. Everyone was just running everywhere.”
Look I am not sure Kohli knows how to spell the word ‘sorry’ CRICKET AUSTRALIA CHIEF J SUTHERLAND
Terrified witnesses on Wednesday described watching a terrorist using a 4x4 as a weapon sending pedestrians flying like skittles — including one thrown into the Thames — before ‘plunging’ a seven-inch knife into a policeman.
The terror suspect, an Asian man in his forties, crashed into Parliament’s railings and then rushed the gates and stabbed the Met officer before an plainclothes officer then shot the assailant three officers.
One victim of the car attack was left floating face down in the Thames but was pulled from the river alive and the bridge above was strewn with the victims of the terror hit and run.
Witnesses said the aftermath like a scene from a ‘Hollywood disaster movie’ and two people dead and more than 12 people are injured including some with catastrophic injuries.
The killer driver aimed at a group of tourist taking selfies in front of Big Ben, one person on the bridge said.
Eyewitness Rick Longley described the attack.
He said: “We were just walking up to the station and there was a loud bang and a guy, someone, crashed a car and took some pedestrians out.
“They were just laying there and then the whole crowd just surged around the corner by the gates just opposite Big Ben.
“A guy came past my right shoulder with a big knife and just started plunging it into the policeman.
“I have never seen anything like that. I just can’t believe what I just saw.’
Steve Voake, 55, was walking across the Westminster Bridge towards the South Bank when he saw the aftermath.
He said he saw at least two bodies lying on the road and one in the water.
“I saw a trainer lying in the road and when I looked more closely I saw that there were a couple of bodies the other side of the road,” he said.
“And when I looked over the side there was another body lying in the water with blood all around it.”
Eyewitness Rob Lyon, 34, from Rugby, who works in marketing, said: “I heard a wheel definitely hit a kerb and quite a large crunch noise, I looked up and saw a car clearly hitting people as it came towards me.
“A colleague I was with, I heard him shout but I just instinctively jumped off the pavement and I could see people getting hit. Then the car just carried on up the bridges and I just looked round me in shock.
“I just saw people being hit by a car at speed, it was harrowing. I just sort of went into shock mode.
“I just looked around me and couldn’t really work out what had happened.”
Kiersten Hallow said: “We’re literally opposite where the car plowed into the fencing.”