Less than weeks after Manchester attack, terror strikes London
LONDON -- British police are responding to a series of incidents in Central London on Saturday. Witnesses say a van plowed into a number of people at the iconic London Bridge.
There are reports of multiple stabbings in the nearby Borough Market area. It's not clear if these incidents are connected, or if they were part of an attack. Earlier, there was panic in the streets.
Police holding shields ran down the street yelling at people to clear out of the way. The chaos in London comes less than three months after a deadly terrorist attack on the Westminster Bridge.
Police are now saying that the attacks in London Saturday night were acts of terrorism. A coherent picture is still emerging. But just after 10 p.m. GMT, in the first incident, a white van drove wildly across London Bridge, swerving back and forth, apparently deliberately hitting groups of pedestrians. People were left lying in the road and on the sidewalk. That came to rest at the end of the bridge.
Shortly afterwards, police responded to reports of a stabbing in an area adjacent to the bridge called Borough Market, a very busy tourist attraction also full of bars and restaurants. According to the witness reports, three men were in the bars and were stabbing some of the customers. They reported that gunfire rang out, presumably police gunfire.
Police have confirmed that they are looking for or investigating three suspects.
Sunday morning Prime Minister Theresa May will meet her security chiefs to decide what the response of the country will be. This is just two weeks after the terrible bombing in Manchester. The threat level had just been lowered again from critical to severe. It may be that we're going to see it hoisted again on Sunday.
