FOUR DEAD IN TERROR AT WESTMINSTER
FOUR people, including an armed police officer, have been killed after a knifeman brought terror to the heart of Westminster.
The attacker, armed with two large knives, mowed down pedestrians with his car on Westminster Bridge, including schoolchildren, then rushed at the gates in front of the Houses of Parliament, stabbing the policeman before being shot dead by other officers.
Witnesses described scenes of terror when gunfire rang out as the man approached a second officer.
Scotland Yard’s top anti-terror officer, Mark Rowley, said the two other fatalities were on the bridge when the terrorist struck. At least 20 other people were injured.
Mr Rowley told reporters outside New Scotland Yard, just yards from the scene of the attack: “This was a day we’ve planned for but hoped would never happen. Sadly it is now a reality.”
Paramedics fought to save the officer’s life and that of his attacker on the floor of the cobbled courtyard in front of Parliament, with Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood among those who rushed to help.
The police officer was wheeled away on a stretcher with his face covered.
Mr Ellwood, who lost his brother in the Bali bombing of 2002, could be seen working on the officer, then standing above him, his hands and face smeared with blood.
Other armed officers, some in plain clothes and wearing balaclavas, swarmed around the yard just feet from where MPs had earlier attended Prime Minister’s Questions.
The knifeman drove a grey Hyundai i40 across Westminster Bridge before crashing it into railings then running through the gates of the Palace of Westminster.
His attack left a trail of destruction as paramedics tended victims on the bridge and at the gate.
One woman hit by the attacker’s car before he reached Parliament was confirmed dead by a doctor at St Thomas’ Hospital. She said others on the bridge suffered “catastrophic injuries”.
Another woman who apparently fell into the Thames was rescued and
given urgent medical treatment on a nearby pier.
London Ambulance Service said paramedics treated at least 10 casualties on Westminster Bridge.
A party of French schoolchildren were among those targeted on the bridge, with three injured.
Downing Street said Prime Minister Theresa May, who was taken away from Parliament after the attack, was chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee.
Mrs May was seen being ushered into a silver Jaguar in the grounds of the palace as what sounded like gunfire rang out at around 2.45pm.
Two visitors from Wales were caught up in the incident.
Peter Evans, public affairs manager for Wales for the Royal British Legion, and Neil Adams, a former Royal Marine, had been attending a function with MPs shortly before the situation unfolded.
Peter, from Penarth, said: “As we came to the stairs, we were told to make our way to Westminster Hall. We never made it, because was then corralled back into the lobby.”
Neil, from Llantwit Fardre, said: “I’d exchanged numbers with (Cardiff South and Penarth MP) Stephen Doughty, who said he’d give us a tour. Then he text me to say there was an incident, and we wouldn’t able to do that. He updated me soon after to say someone had been shot. As I walked past a policeman, I actually heard that on the walkie talkie - that someone had been shot outside.”
Cardiff Central MP Jo Stevens wrote on Twitter: “Getting lots of texts. I am safe thank you, but we’ve just been told a police officer here has been stabbed and the assailant shot. Terrible.”
The Echo’s Westminster correspondent David Williamson was also working in the Houses of Parliament yesterday.
He said: “There were sounds of gunfire, maybe three or four shots just at the Carriage Gate.
“There’s Parliament Square, where you normally see lots of tourists, and then there’s a set of gates that lead to Westminster Hall.
“We certainly saw two bodies on the ground. Somebody had managed to get through the actual gates towards Westminster Hall.
“There were two figures (on the ground) that were then surrounded by police and emergency services, and CPR was being performed.
“One of them has since been taken away in an ambulance and there’s another that still appears to be on the ground on the cobbled steps.”
Witness Rick Longley described the attack.
“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 lying 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.”
An air ambulance landed in Parliament Square and a regular ambulance came in through the front gates as medics rushed to help.
Armed police cleared the area around the incident and Parliament Square and surrounding streets were closed to traffic while Parliament went into lockdown.
As the sitting in the House of Commons was suspended, Commons Leader David Lidington told MPs: “What I am able to say to the House is there has been a serious incident within the estate.
“It seems that a police officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police.”
Witnesses described seeing a heavyset man carrying a knife and running towards the Houses of Parliament.
Jayne Wilkinson said: “We were taking photos of Big Ben and we saw all the people running towards us, and then there was an Asian guy in about his forties carrying a knife about seven or eight inches long.
“And then there were three shots fired, and then we crossed the road and looked over. The man was on the floor with blood.
“He had a lightweight jacket on, dark trousers and a shirt.
“He was running through those gates, towards Parliament, and the police were chasing him.”
Another witness, from South Africa and living in Ireland, said she and two friends went towards the palace gates and saw a man lying inside.
She said: “I saw a body, they were working on the floor. They were just inside the gates.”