At least four people have died in a terrorist attack carried out yesterday in the immediate vicinity of the British Parliament and the Westminster Bridge. These data add up to the 20 injured, according to the latest balance made public at the time of writing this information.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, upon hearing the facts, made a statement describing the incident as a "serious incident" and stating that the incident "is being treated as a terrorist attack until the police know otherwise." The London mayor also said that the Metropolitan Police Service "is dealing with the incident and an urgent investigation is under way."
On the other hand, the Mayor of London indicated that his "thoughts are with those affected and their families." In this regard, I express "thank you" to the police and emergency services that "work so hard to keep us safe and display great value in exceptionally difficult circumstances."
The facts of what happened
The attack took place yesterday afternoon at two-thirty when a man was driving a SUV across Westminster Bridge and ran over several pedestrians.
He then crashed the vehicle into one of the fences of the British Parliament. After these events, the driver of the vehicle then ran through the gardens of the square but was intercepted by police officers. The man stabbed an agent while another police officer fired several times at the aggressor who finally fell down and died.
London police have appealed to citizens to provide images of the incident and that they should send to this address: http://www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk. On its website last night, the police asked the citizens of London to avoid the following areas: Parliament Square; Whitehall; Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge, Victoria Street to the junction with Broadway and the Victoria Embankment to the Embankment Subway to allow emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident.
The numbers to call
The police also provided two telephone numbers to assist the families of the victims and to contact the people who were at the scene. The numbers are 0800 056 0944 and 0207 158 0010. People who are worried about friends and family have to choose option one while, in the second case, people who have been at the scene, have to mark option two.
Mark Rowley, national head of the Counter-Terrorism Police and Acting Deputy Commissioner, said in a statement on the police website yesterday that after the incident the Parliament "was closed and the Met responded in line with our plans for a terrorist attack." That response included uniformed and specialised firearms officers," he said. In this line, he pointed out that there is "an ongoing operation" to clarify the facts of the terrorist attack.
