London - Militants drove a van at high
speed into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing Saturday
night revellers on the street and in nearby bars, killing at
least six people and wounding more than 30.
Armed police rushed to the scene and shot dead the three
male attackers in the Borough Market area near the bridge as
authorities urged Londoners on Twitter to "run, hide, tell" if
they were caught up in the violence.
The attacks come days ahead of a June 8 election and less
than two weeks after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a pop
concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande in Manchester in northern
England. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
"Sadly, six people have died in addition to the three
attackers shot by police," Mark Rowley, Britain's top
anti-terrorism officer, said. The three attackers had been
wearing what looked like explosive vests that were later found
to have been hoaxes.
The BBC showed a photograph of two possible attackers shot
by police, one of whom had canisters strapped to his body. Hours
after the attack the area, just downstream from London's
government quarter, remained sealed off and patrolled by armed
police and counter-terrorism officers.
The London ambulance service said more than 30 people had
been taken to hospitals across the city. Three major London
hospitals were on lockdown to keep patients and staff safe.
Streets around London Bridge and Borough Market, fashionable
districts packed with bars and restaurants, would have been busy
with people on a Saturday night out.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan spoke of a "cowardly attack on
innocent Londoners and visitors to our city enjoying their
Saturday night".
Witnesses described a white van careering into pedestrians
on London Bridge and knocking over several people.
"It looked like he was aiming for groups of people. I froze
beacause I didn't know what to do," Mark Roberts, 53, a
management consultant, told Reuters. He saw at least six people
on the ground after the van veered on and off the pavement.
"It was horrendous," he said.
A taxi driver told the BBC that three men got out of the van
with long knives and "went randomly along Borough High Street
stabbing people."
Witnesses described people running into a bar to seek
shelter.
"People started running and screaming, and the van crashes
into the railing behind. We went towards Borough Market and
everyone went inside (the bar). Everyone in the bar started
pushing people from the exits," one witness who gave his name as
Brian, 32, told Reuters.
Another witness, who declined to be named, his white top
covered in blood, described a scene of panic in the bar.
"They hit the emergency alarm. There was a line of people
going down to the emergency exit. And then people started
screaming coming back up," the 31-year-old said.
"Around the corner there was a guy with a stab wound on his
neck ... There was a doctor in the pub and she helped him. They
put pressure on the stab wound."
BBC radio said witnesses saw people throwing tables and
chairs at the attackers to protect themselves.
Islamic State call
The BBC showed dozens of people, evidently caught up in the
attack, being escorted to safety through a police cordon with
their hands on their heads.
Islamic State, losing territory in Syria and Iraq to an
advance backed by a US-led coalition, sent out a call on
instant messaging service Telegram early on Saturday urging its
followers to launch attacks with trucks, knives and guns against
"Crusaders" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Similar attacks, in Berlin, Nice, Brussels and Paris, have
been carried out by militants over the past two years.
Prime Minister Theresa May was due to chair a meeting of the
Cobra security committee later on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to offer US help to Britain. The White House said he had been briefed on the
incidents by his national security team.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter that
"France is standing more than ever side by side with the UK".
Gunshots
The incident bore similarities to a March attack on
Westminster Bridge, west of London Bridge, in which a man killed
five people after driving into a crowd of pedestrians before
stabbing a police officer in the grounds of parliament.
Several witnesses also reported hearing gunshots around
London Bridge.
"We were in an Uber (taxi) going towards London Bridge and
suddenly we saw people running. The Uber stopped, we asked
people what was going on – people said there was shooting," said
Yoann Belmere, 40, a French banker living in London.
"Now the area is completely closed with police cars going
one way and ambulances going the other," he told Reuters.
A witness told CNN two men had entered a restaurant in the
Borough Market area and stabbed two people inside. He said a
waitress was stabbed in the throat and a man was stabbed in the
back.
The Manchester bombing on May 22 was the deadliest attack in
Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide
bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London's
transport network.