UK Parliament: 4 Killed, 20 Injured in London Terror Attack

Four people, including an armed police offic­er and a man believed to be the attacker, died yes­terday in a terrorist inci­dent near the UK’s Houses of Parliament, Scotland

 Yard said.
One of the victims was among several pedestrians hit by a car on Westminster Bridge, driven by the sus­pected terrorist, before he crashed it into a fence in the Parliament Buildings.
An officer protecting the Parliament was stabbed by an attacker, who was shot by police.
At least 20 people were injured, including three oth­er officers.

Acting Deputy Commis­sioner and head of counter-terrorism at the Metropol­itan Police, Mark Rowley, said a major terrorist inves­tigation was under way.

 He said the attack start­ed shortly before 15:00 GMT when the car was driven over Westminster Bridge, hitting and injur­ing a number of members of the public and the three police officers, who were on their way back from a com­mendation ceremony.
Mr. Rowley said after the car crashed, a man armed with the knife “continued the attack and tried to enter Parliament”.
Witnesses say there was what appeared to be a warn­ing shout and then the crack of three or four shots before the attacker fell to the floor.
Foreign Office Minister, Tobias Ellwood - a former Army officer, whose broth­er died in the Bali terrorist bombing in 2002 - attempt­ed mouth-to-mouth resusci­tation of an injured police of­ficer.
Prime Minister Theresa May is to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee later.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The thoughts of the PM and the government are with those killed and injured in this ap­palling incident, and with their families.”
Metropolitan Police Fed­eration chairman Ken Marsh said: “We offer our deepest sympathy to the family of the officer who has died. This in­cident shows the dangers our colleagues face on a daily ba­sis.”
The French Prime Minis­ter, Bernard Cazeneuve, said three French school pupils were among the injured and offered “solidarity with our British friends, and full sup­port” for the wounded stu­dents and their families.
The Port of London Au­thority said a woman was pulled out alive from the Riv­er Thames near the bridge and was being treated for serious injuries.
The incident outside West­minster is exactly the kind of scenario that security chiefs have been planning for.
It looks like the type of at­tack jihadist have wanted to carry out in Britain - namely attacking people with a vehi­cle and taking on the security forces with knives.
In the security servic­es’ jargon, this is known as a “marauding attack” and is the hardest type of terrorist in­cident to predict and defend against. That means casual­ties, as seen in Nice and else­where, are inevitable.
But what matters just as much is how the police then respond.
Armed police at Parlia­ment were able to stop the at­tacker. Within minutes, West­minster was flooded with more armed officers, including counter-terrorism specialists.
Inside Scotland Yard, teams of detectives began working on the next critical phase - establishing the sus­pect’s movements, wheth­er he acted alone and, in tan­dem with their colleagues on the street, making sure Lon­don is as secure as it can be in light of these awful events.
Westminster remained locked down and was expect­ed to remain so until Scotland Yard was certain the threat had been contained.
As Parliament was put into lockdown, MPs said they were told to stay inside their offices.
Parliamentary authorities said both the House of Com­mons and Lords will sit at their usual times on Thursday.
The White House said lat­er that Prime Minister Theresa May, who was whisked away to safety, had spoken to Presi­dent Donald Trump about the attack.