(Newswire.net — March 22, 2017) — LONDON, UK – Four people are dead, including a police officer and the attacker, in what was labeled as a terrorist attack, which occurred outside the UK parliament .
A single attacker drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge then rushed towards the Houses of Parliament. In the second incident, he had attacked people with a knife, killing one police officer. Two more victims were transported to St Thomas’ Hospital, some of them with wounds described by Junior Dr. Colleen Anderson as “catastrophic”.
The suspect was shot and killed by armed police officers,
Police are treating the incident as terrorism, but believe that there is only one attacker.
“I confirmed one fatality. A woman. She was under the wheel of a bus. She died, confirmed her death at the scene,” Dr. Anderson told reporters.
An eyewitness has told Sky News he saw a body “face down” in the Thames. It is believed people have been launched over the bridge upon impact, but more likely they have jumped in fear.
“A female member of the public was recovered alive from the water, but with serious injuries, Anderson said. “She has been brought ashore and is undergoing urgent medical treatment. The working assumption is that she fell or jumped from the bridge.”
City area is covered with CCTV cameras which recorded shocking videos and photographs, showing people lying on the bridge, bleeding heavily. At the moment this story was written, no official estimate of the attack victims was disclosed.
According to the leader of the House of Commons, David Lidington, the attacker was an asylum shot by armed police officers “inside the parliament perimeter”.
“Colleagues will have appreciated that events have been moving rapidly and I want to emphasise that the knowledge that I have which is definite is so far very limited,” Lidington told MPs.
Lidington confirmed that a member of the police has died after being stabbed. “What I am able to say to the House is that there has been a serious incident within the estate.”
Lidington described the scene as he witnessed an air ambulance removing casualties from the bridge. “There are also reports of further violent incidents in the [parliament] vicinity.”