Showing posts with label Law enforcement in the United Kingdom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Law enforcement in the United Kingdom. Show all posts

Sunday, June 4, 2017

London Terror Attacks: At Least Two Dead Amid Van Ramming, Stabbing, Gunfire: Live Feed


The latest:


  • "Multiple" casualties after two terrorist attacks took place in London on Saturday night; police have responded to attacks on London Bridge and Borough Market

  • At least two people have been killed amid confirmed knife attacks, gunfire, at least 20 injured.

  • The attacks started when a white van drove into Pedestrians on London Bridge around 10:30pm on Saturday.

  • A BBC eyewitness saw three men stabbing people indiscriminately, shouting "this is for Allah".

  • "I saw a man with a large blade": witnesses describe the attack after the van attack.

  • There have been multiple reports of rapid gunfire in what one witness described as “Westminster all over again”.

  • BBC reports that two attackers were gunned down, and believed killed, by armed police.  One was seen with canisters strapped to his body.

  • Another 3 attackers thought to still be on the run, the BBC adds.

  • Theresa May and the Met Police have declared the attacks are being treated as acts of terror

* * *


Update 8:54pm. The Telegraph has shown the following picture distributed on social media showing a man lying on the ground who appears to have canisters strapped to him. It was taken in the Borough Market area.


The BBC earlier tonight reported an unnamed eyewitness, a security guard who works across multiple bars and pubs in Borough Market, claiming to have seen a man with a canister strapped to his abdomen. Stressing that the reports were unverified, the news channel claims the man saw the attackers after receiving a call from a colleague in another bar who said people had been stabbed.


The eyewitness described people running away screaming from three men, one wearing a red and black top. He claimed one man had a canister taped to his abdomen. The man and his colleagues tried to throw chairs at the three attackers, who were going in and out of different bars, before helping to evacuate the area



* * *


Update 8:40 pm. BBC reports that two attackers are believed to have been gunned down - believed killed - by armed police, The Sun says citing witnesses. Another three attackers are thought to still be on the run, the newspaper adds.


* * *


Update 8:33 pm. An eyewitness on London Bridge, told the BBC he saw three men stabbing people indiscriminately, shouting "this is for Allah".


"I saw these three Muslim guys run up and started stabbing this girl. They attacked her and stabbed another guy. They started running up the road, stabbed the bouncer at the Tavern. "I was throwing bottles at them, pint glasses, stools, chairs, but I was defenceless.


"They were running up saying "this is for Allah"."


"They stabbed this girl maybe ten, 15 times. She was saying "help me, help me"." He claimed he had hit one of the attackers on the back of the head by throwing things at him, and was chased, but escaped unharmed.


John Stokes, London bus tour guide, said he counted eight people lying in the road or pavement receiving medical treatment on London Bridge.


He had arrived on the scene with a bus full of tourists moments after the attack, initially thinking it was a one-off traffic accident before seeing the number of casualties. After the police arrived, he said, an office banged on the bus door and told everyone on the bus to run towards Monument. "All the tourists on our bus ran for their lives," he said.



* * *


Update 8:31 pm. London Mayor, Sadiq Khan has issed the following statement on the "horrific terrorist attack" at London Bridge and Borough Market.



* * *


Update 8:30 pm. Eyewitness: "About 50 police were pointing guns at us"


Describing the attack at Borough Market, Kumi de Costa tells BBC what she saw:


"The cab driver turned into the market and we got stuck right in the middle of the shooting we were in a one-way street and couldn’t turn around. There were loads of shots being fired. Two people were on the floor behind the church with two or three people leaning over them. About 50 police were pointing guns at us - the cab driver had the laser pointed right at them, our hands were up, we were trying to get out so they shooed us away.


"A man was coming out of the restaurant, he had a napkin on his neck with blood pouring out, there was another man lying on the floor. I don’t know if he was in the recovery position or dead. We weaved through little side streets where the police were telling us to go to Blackfriars Bridge and we could see people looking over the side; people had maybe jumped over the bridge. A couple of times we had to lie down on the floor of the cab because of the shooting around us."


* * *


Update 8:27 pm. According to the deputy digital news editor  for The Sun there have been explosions outside The Sun"f office.



According to subsequent reports, these were "controlled" explosions.


* * *


Update 8:20pm:  The Met Police also declare today"s two attacks terrorist attacks:



* * *


Update: 7:53 U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May has


released a statement officially confirming that tonight"s attacks are being treated as acts of terrorism.


Here"s May:





"Following updates from our police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism"


"This is a fast moving investigation. I want to express my huge gratitude to the police and emergency services who are on th scene, our thoughts are with those who are caught up in these dreaful events."



May"s declaration confirms that this is the UK"s third terror incident in less than three months.


* * *


Update: 7:35


President Donald Trump has tweeted twice since the incident, which began about an hour and a half ago when a white van drove into pedestrians on London Bridge. The president has signaled that "we need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!"





* * *


Update 7:15 pm


Reports have emerged that ISIS has taken responsibility for the attack



Separately, Theresa May, who has been campaigning in the General Election, was returning to Downing Street to receive further briefings from security officials.


According to the Telegraph, May will chair a Cobra meeting about tonight"s incidents first thing on Sunday morning.  It is understood that the Prime Minister was in her Maidenhead constituency when she was alerted to the news.  So-called Cobra meetings are named after Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, where crisis response meetings are held.  They usually include the Prime Minister and senior cabinet ministers as well as intelligence and security officials.  May held two Cobra meetings in one day less than two weeks ago on the day of the Manchester bombing.


Meanwhile, armed police have evacuated the Shard, the Globe and businesses in a mile radius of the scene.


* * *


Update 6:55 p m


BBC reports that multiple people have been killed in the various incidents in London, with Telegraph reporting that according to Police sources at least two people have been killed in the London Bridge area.


* * *


Update: 6:42 pm


According to a BBC reporter at the scene, police are now searching for three possibly armed suspects. According to Sky News, citing Scotland Yard,  there has been a third separate incident in the Vauxhall region in South London. The BBC also adds that it can confirm earlier reports of gunshots being fired. Reports suggest it may have been more than one incident:


  • A van hitting people at London Bridge and three people then jumping out of the vehicle and attacking members of the public;

  • A separate incident at Borough Market

  • Police have now said they are responding to a third incident in Vauxhall

It is understood that police are looking for three suspects who may be armed.



Later, the Met Police said the Vauxhall incident was a knife attack unconnected to the other two incidents.



* * *


Separately, an eyewitness told LBC radio what he saw tonight. The taxi driver said: "A van came from London Bridge itself, went between the traffic light system and rammed it towards the steps. It knocked loads of people down.


"Then three men got out with long blades, 12 inches long and went randomly along Borough High Street stabbing people at random."


* * *


Update: 6:33pm


Sean Spicer confirms that the president is being kept informed about the incident.



Additionally, according to police there has been a second incident at Borough Market, as police are now dealing with two separate incidents, London Bridge and Borough Market.


* * *


Original


In what appears to be a repeat of the deadly March 22 terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge in London, on Saturday night a white van rammed into as many as 15-20 pedestrians as "several people mowed down" on London Bridge in central London in what has been dubbed a "major incident." The incident happened at 10.30pm on Saturday. According to preliminary reports there have been at least 6 victims, and a cab  driver on the bridge has reported he saw a stabbing man. About five people were being treated for injuries after the vehicle mounted the pavement and hit them, she said.


Scotland Yard reports that in addition to the car ramming, London police say they have also responded to an incident at Borough Market; armed officers at scene. It is unclear if the two incidents are releated.


Several eyewitness accounts have emerged which suggest there have been multiple casualties, with bodies strewn across the pavement. Others reports that several people are receiving emergency treatment after being stabbed. One woman told the Sun; "We had to run there was loads of shooting".



Armed police on Borough High Street


BBC reporter Holly Jones, who was on the bridge at the time of the incident, said the white van was driven by a male driver and was "probably travelling at about 50 miles an hour - veered of the road into the crowds of people who were walking along the pavement," she told BBC News.". The van, which was travelling from the direction of central London, headed towards the south side of the river.



Armed Police officers on London Bridge


According to Will Heaven, managing editor of the Spectator, a man crashed into people on the bridgge, "then there was stabbing attack." Heaven also notes that "it seemed south side of London Bridge epicenter of what seems a terrorist attack. We have been escorted by police from bridge." He adds that "what I saw: injured pedestrians, first responders, armed police, people running north. What I heard of: stabbings, injured."


According to Sky News, "all the information points in the direction of another terrorist attack."


So far there has been no official statement from the Metropolitan Police other than a Twitter message posted at 10.28pm which stated: "We are dealing with an incident on #LondonBridge, when we have more information we will update this twitter feed”.



More from social media:









 

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Saturday, May 27, 2017

UK Terror Threat Level Lowered To "Severe" As Police Tear Down Terrorist Cell

Four days after UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Tuesday the nation"s terror threat level was raised to the highest possible, "Critical" level in response to the Manchester suicide bombing which killed 22 people, and resulted in British troops being deployed on the streets of London for the first time in a decade, on Saturday Theresa May said Britain had lowered its security threat level to "severe" following a number of arrests and significant activity by police investigating the suicide bomb attack. As a result the British soldiers who were deployed earlier in the week to assist police, would be withdrawn from Britain"s streets from midnight on Monday.


Earlier in the day, police hunting the terrorist network behind the suspected suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, said they had made two further arrests overnight as they closed in on other possible cell members. May said this meant that the independent body which sets the threat level had decided it should be lowered from its highest rating "critical", which means an attack could be imminent, to "severe". As a result, the UK"s threat assessment has now been returned to the level it was at prior to the Manchester attack, with no imminent attacks expected, although as May also added an attack is still "highly likely".


"A significant amount of police activity has taken place over the last 24 hours and there are now 11 suspects in custody," May said. "The public should be clear about what this means. A threat level of severe means an attack is highly likely. The country should remain vigilant."



Elsewhere, Reuters reports, that UK police officers said they had used a controlled explosion to gain entry to an address in the north of the city where two men were detained on Saturday. Some hours later, police cordoned off a large area in the Moss Side area of south Manchester and houses were evacuated with a bomb disposal unit sent to the scene. A man working in a local shop, who declined to be named, told Reuters he saw three men being taken away from the address.





"As part of an ongoing search at a property in Moss Side an evacuation is currently being carried in the area," police said in a statement.



On Friday, Britain"s most senior counter-terrorism officer said police were confident that they had made "immense" progress and had apprehended a "large part of the network". However, extra armed officers will be on duty across the country with security stepped up at some 1,300 events over the long holiday weekend.



The scope of the response to the Manchester attack has been dramatic, with the Times newspaper reporting on Saturday that intelligence officers had identified 23,000 jihahist extremists living in Britain. Earlier this week a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the security services were managing 500 active operations involving some 3,000 people who were thought to pose a threat.



An armed police officer at Manchester Piccadilly railway station


A concern for the UK, and perhaps explaining the reduction of the threat level, is that over the weekend there are a number of high-profile events including soccer cup finals in London and Glasgow, and the Great Manchester Run. However, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the UK police chief for counter-terrorism, advised people to be vigilant but to "go out as you planned and enjoy yourselves".


Meanwhile, the traditional blowback to these kinds of events has emerged, with Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable saying there had been a rise in reported hate crimes, from an average of 28 to 56 incidents on Wednesday even as the police and politicians praised communities in Manchester for their reaction to the bombing.  "We can"t directly link these to the events of Monday night and are continuing to monitor the situation," he said.


Also on Friday, political campaigning for the June 8 national election which was suspended after the Manchester attack resumed with the bombing becoming a central feature. The opposition Labour Party, emboldened by a rise in opinion polls, argued that Britain"s foreign policy had increased the risk of attacks and criticized Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May for cutting spending on policing. May said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was saying Britain was to blame for the bombing.


"I want to make one thing very clear to Jeremy Corbyn and to you, and it is that there can never, ever be an excuse for terrorism," she said at the G-7 meeting in Sicily. A recent poll on Thursday put May"s Conservatives five points ahead of Labour suggesting a far tighter race than previously anticipated, sending the British pound tumbling..

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