Fears of new terror attack after a white van 'mows down 20 people' on London Bridge

UPDATE - 5.00am UK time
6 people dead in van attack and stabbings and three attackers shot dead.

Six people have been killed and and multiple people are injured in a terrorist "rampage" at two central London landmarks.

Three attackers were shot dead by police in the attack on London Bridge and Borough Market. Police said they believed there were no more than three attackers.

A white transit van ploughed into a crowd of people on the bridge at speed shortly after 10pm. The three men then attacked people with knives at nearby Borough Market.

The London Ambulance Service said more than 30 injured people had been taken to six hospitals. The Metropolitan Police force declared the attacks "terrorist incidents."

Hours after the attacks began, a large area of central London remained cordoned off and police told people to avoid the area, leaving tourists and revelers struggling to get home.

Bursts of gunfire echoed through the streets - likely from armed police - and at least three blasts rang out as police performed controlled explosions.

One picture from the Borough Market area showed a man lying on the ground who appears to have canisters strapped to him. Police later said the men were wearing hoax suicide vests.

Holly Jones, a BBC reporter at London Bridge when the first incident happened, said a van had swerved off the road into a crowd of pedestrians.

"A white van driver came speeding - probably about 50mph - veered of the road into the crowds of people who were walking along the pavement," she told BBC News.

Within minutes there were reports of a second incident at Borough Market on the south bank of the Thames. One cab driver said three men ran towards the market stabbing people - including a young girl - as they ran.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/london-bridge-incident-armed-police-215406557.html
______________________________________________
LONDON (Reuters) - At least six people were killed by militants who drove a van at high speed into pedestrians on London Bridge and then stabbed revellers in the nearby Borough Market area on Saturday.

For the main story on the attack http://reut.rs/2srk6qp

All three attackers were shot dead by police. More than 30 injured people were taken to hospital.

The following is what is known so far:

- Three attackers drove a white van at high speed into pedestrians walking on London Bridge, police said.

A witness told Reuters that at least six people were hit on the bridge.

"It looked like he was aiming for groups of people. I froze because I didn't know what to do," Mark Roberts, a 53-year-old management consultant, told Reuters. "It was horrendous."

Police said they responded to the incident on London bridge at 2208 (2108 GMT).

- The men armed with knives left the vehicle and attacked people in the nearby Borough Market area on the south side of the Thames, witnesses said.

Witnesses said the attackers stabbed people in the street and in pubs and restaurants in Borough Market.

- Police said armed police had responded to the reports of stabbings in Borough Market and shots had been fired.

"Armed response officers then responded very quickly and bravely and confronted the three male suspects who were shot and killed on Borough Market," Mark Rowley, Britain's top anti-terrorism officer, said.

"The suspects had been confronted and shot by police within eight minutes of the first call. The suspects were wearing what looked like explosive vests but these were later established to be hoaxes," he said.

The men were wearing what appeared to be canisters attached to their bodies. One of them was shown in a photograph lying on the ground outside the Wheatsheaf pub.

Another man, was also reported to be an attacker, was pictured on the ground a short distance away. Witnesses said they heard gunfire in the area.

The police said the vests were later established to be hoaxes. A Reuters reporter nearby said he heard loud bangs afterwards that may have been controlled explosions.

- Terror attack? At 0025 British time on Sunday the incidents at London Bridge and Borough Market were declared as terrorist incidents.

"Following updates from police and security officials, I can confirm that the terrible incident in London is being treated as a potential act of terrorism," Prime Minister Theresa May said just over four days before voting is due to begin in a June 8 national election.

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

May will chair a meeting of Britain's "COBR" emergency response committee on Sunday morning. Intelligence and security chiefs as well as senior ministers and officials attend the meeting.

London's Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command is leading the investigation.

- Who? It was not clear who might be responsible for the attack.

Islamic State earlier on Saturday sent out a call on instant messaging service Telegram urging its followers to launch attacks with trucks, knives and guns against "Crusaders" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

- The attack came less than two weeks after a suicide bomber Salman Abedi blew himself up at a concert in Manchester on May 22, killing at least 22.

Britain raised its terror threat to the highest level of "critical" and deployed troops on the streets on May 23, a day after the Manchester suicide attack. The critical level means another attack could be imminent. It was reduced to "severe", which means an attack is highly likely, on May 27.

On March 22, Khalid Masood ploughed a rented car into pedestrians and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead. Five were killed by the attacker.

- The United Kingdom is due to hold a national election on June 8.

- U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted: "Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U.K., we will be there - WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!"

- A separate incident in Vauxhall, two miles away, was not related to the other two incidents police said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/factbox-london-bridge-attack-know-far-033203998.html

UPDATE - 6 dead, three of which were the attackers shot dead by armed police.   30 injured so far and number is expected to rise.    LL
ETA 06.45 UK time   Injured number now  48 and still expected to rise.
One of the seriously injured is a British Transport Police officer who went to the aid of a victim and was stabbed.

Theresa May has returned to London and Tory campaigning is on hold; there is a COBR meeting this morning.   Labor are 'considering' doing the same ie putting their campaigning on hold.   LL

About the only crumb of comfort I can think of in this latest killing spree is that it appears the murderers are all dead - bullets are much cheaper than jail cells, and save on Human Rights lawyers bleating about how it wasn't really their fault, someone dropped them on their heads in the mosque when they were babies.

And stupid candles, pointless praying and tearful hashtags are NOT going to stop this, nor save a single life. Love does NOT win, it never has.

When Brits were previously being urged to Keep calm and carry on, they could do so in the knowledge that the RAF would be retaliating and raining hellfire on the people that were destroying their cities and killing and maiming their families.

I don't seem to recall Churchill weeping and wailing over tealights and teddies tied to lampposts?

Who can forget this from the supposed mayor of London?



Virtue-signalling tw@t.

6 dead, three of which were the attackers shot dead by armed police

Why are they being counted in with the victims? Shooting them was just garbage disposal.

'It is time to prioritise the safety of our country': Social media users call for the General Election to be postponed following the London Bridge attack as Tories suspend their campaign
At least six people are feared dead following the attack on Saturday night
Petition has called for the election to be suspended 'for the foreseeable future'
Prime Minister will chair emergency response committee meeting on Sunday


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4569880/Calls-election-suspended-London-attack.html#ixzz4j0zoqtES
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Spineless morons. Yes, why not let islamic crazies wreck our democracy, as they have done in so many other countries? Oh, and pray at the same time, that'll show them we mean business.

Maybe Jezza should be sent to all terrorist incidents, as he claims to think he can solve any problem by waffling at it?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4570060/Hero-threw-bottles-chairs-terrorists.html


The witness named only as Gerard saw 'three Muslim men in their thirties' stabbing a girl fifteen times with kitchen knives while shouting 'this is for Allah'.

The men then ran into bars and pubs stabbing more people while Gerard chased them, showing police officers where they had gone before they were shot dead.

How brave they are!

UKIP 'discussing' whether to postpone campaigning - no news from the rest of the rabble whether they will also do the same. LL

Suspending campaigning for 24 hours is fair enough, even thinking about postponing the election is insanity, IMO.

Oh, the SNP are suspending campaigning, and Sturgeon's having a meeting. Frankly, her complacency terrifies me. She seems to have wiped the attack on Glasgow Airport from whatever passes from her 'mind', Scotland is the softest of soft targets, but she seems to think everything's fine and dandy because she trots off to Glasgow Mosque wearing a headscarf.

ISIS Calls For Ramming Attacks Against The West During Ramadan 2017.

ISIS has long been using the sacred month to carry out terror attacks against its enemies.

The Islamic State terror group’s main propaganda channels are calling upon supporters to carry out lone wolf attacks against Westerners during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The group published a poster featuring a handgun, a knife, and a truck that reads in Arabic and English “gain benefit from Ramadan” and “kill civilians of the Crusaders, run over them by vehicles.”

The channels, on the messaging app Telegram, have thousands of followers, the biggest of which is called the Nashir Agency, responsible for disseminating official ISIS propaganda.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a time of prayer, fasting, and devotion. ISIS has long used the sacred month as justification for carrying out terror attacks. “Ramadan has been marred by increased terrorist violence around the world, as the Islamic State has attempted to transform it into a month of unparalleled bloodshed,” write Amarnath Amarasingam and Charlie Winter in The Atlantic. Last June, ISIS supporter Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

ISIS claimed responsibility for several “lone wolf” truck attacks against the West, including the attack in the French city of Nice that killed 84 people on Bastille Day last July, the assault that killed 12 people in Berlin last December, and the terror attack in London that killed three people and injured dozens when a man drove an SUV into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in March.

http://www.vocativ.com/435441/isis-calls-for-ramming-attacks-against-the-west-during-ramadan/

Ramadan began Saturday, May 27, 2017 and ends Sunday, June 25, 2017

Corbyn: The Labour party will be suspending national campaigning until this evening, after consultations with other parties, as a mark of respect for those who have died and suffered injury.

Next time there's a terrorist attack (for there will be more) Corbyn should be sent in to 'negotiate' with the scumbags, as he thinks waffling solves everything.

Update from Commissioner of Police - victim deaths up to 7, 4 terrorists killed.  LL

ETA David Davis says election cannot, as far as he understands, be postponed as that requires Parliament to decide, and as there is no such body at present ....

Snap, LL - Cressida Dick now - seven members of the public are dead, and 48 injured.

Oh, and three scumbags quickly put down by the police:





Pic of dead snackbars courtesy of Mail - note the fake suicide vests. Sadly, it's just a matter of time before the handwringers start wailing, Why couldn't the police shoot them in the leg?

That's why. And with the advent of smartphones, etc., they have no information of value, their internet connections are of much more use.

Thorbnerry has just confirmed that Labor will cease NATIONAL campaigning until this evening, but no such agreement re local campaigning. Double standards? LL

IMO, it's a hard one to get right, LL. Allowing these scumbags to wreck the election would hand them a huge victory, but at the same time, a period of quiet is needed, out of respect for the dead - and to avoid causing the police unneccessary extra work.

Quiet local campaigning, but no loud, flashy national events, is maybe about right?

UKIP not stopping campaigning, I understand. LL

Up to them, I suppose. The voters will judge whether that is appropriate or not.

I do hope there will be no more TV slanging matches between now and Thursday, that really wouldn't have been appropriate. And I doubt if Corbyn would enjoy having to explain his spineless approach to terrorism, arming the police, etc.

Corbyn says Labour will 'assess the situation' when they continue their campaigning. Now why do I think he's going to use what happened yesterday to try and bolster up his position. Theresa May is due to address journalists but looks like a delay as meeting still going on. LL

Now why do I think he's going to use what happened yesterday to try and bolster up his position.

As much of his previous position consists of trying to 'negotiate' with deranged religious fanatics, and disarming the police, I suspect he might have a bit of a problem.......

That actually wasn't a bad speech by Mrs May, IMO....

bb1 wrote:That actually wasn't a bad speech by Mrs May, IMO....

I agree, it was straighforward, no waffle, just the bald facts. She came over as a sensible person. LL