Seven people have been killed and 48 injured in a terror attack in central London, with police shooting three suspected assailants dead within 8 minutes of the first incident.
British Prime Minister Theresa May says there is “too much tolerance” of Islamist extremism in the UK as she vowed a clampdown in the wake of the third terror attack to hit the UK this year.
Speaking in Downing Street five days before the UK general election, May described the latest attack as “brutal” and said extremism had to be defeated.
“We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are… Enough is enough.”
Latest developments according to CNN
• Metropolitan Police statement: Seven people have died across two locations, in addition to the three attackers shot dead by police. A reported third incident at Vauxhall, a few miles west, was not connected.
• London Ambulance Service statement: 48 victims have been taken to five hospitals across London. A number of others were treated for less serious injuries at the scene. More than 80 medics have responded to the incident, including ambulance crews, advanced paramedics, specialist response teams and an advanced trauma team from London’s air ambulance.
• Vehicle attack on London Bridge: Eyewitnesses said a van drove at speed across London Bridge from the north side, knocking over several pedestrians. London’s Metropolitan Police said they first responded to the bridge at 10:08 p.m. (5:08 p.m. EST).
• Stabbings at Borough Market: A man with a knife entered two restaurants at nearby Borough Market, just south of the bridge, stabbing two people in one restaurant and one person in the other, other eyewitnesses told CNN.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May returns to Downing Street: In a statement, she said a “terrible incident” in London was being treated as “potential act of terrorism.” She planned to chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee Sunday.
Metropolitan police assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Mark Rowley, says the attack began late Saturday night, when a white van stuck pedestrians on London Bridge. Suspects then left the vehicle and “a number of people were stabbed, including an on-duty British Transport Police officer who was responding to the incident at London Bridge,” said Rowley. The officer received serious but not life-threatening injuries. Rowley says,
“Armed officers responded very quickly and bravely, confronting three male suspects who were shot and killed in Borough Market. The suspects had been confronted and shot by the police within eight minutes of the first call. The suspects were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes.”
Witnesses reported panic as the incidents unfolded in the vicinity of a major transport hub and in an area packed with restaurants and bars. At least 48 people were taken to five hospitals, with many more treated at the scene.
Just days before a general election and two weeks after 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, the attacks wreaked havoc. It’s the third terrorist attack to strike the UK this year, after a man drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in March.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was “deliberate and cowardly attack” on Londoners enjoying a Saturday night out. Some of the injured are in critical condition.
Police have swarmed #LondonBridge pic.twitter.com/HSc5DM6uVw
— LIAM (@LiamC0nnell) June 3, 2017
Still shut in Vauxhall Tavern. Air con unit still dripping. Madonna's Like A Prayer still playing.
We are safe.
We have gin.#London pic.twitter.com/c3REQWqU3v— Rob Holley (@robholley) June 3, 2017
(Photo, YouTube; via CNN)