On the night of June 4, a van crashed into passers-by on London Bridge. Almost simultaneously, three people attacked passers-by with knives in the nearby Borough Market. Another attack took place in the Vauxhall area, but the police said it had nothing to do with the first two. According to police, there was a terrorist attack on London Bridge and in the Borough Market area. Seven people were killed, 48 people were injured. Three of the attackers, who were wearing dummies of suicide belts, were killed.
First attack. London Bridge
Around 10pm London time, the Metropolitan Police said they were working on an "incident" on London Bridge. BBC correspondent Holly Jones was on the scene at the time and said the van had crashed into pedestrians. “The driver of the white van was moving at a speed of about 50 miles per hour (about 80 km / h - Rain), and then turned off the road into a crowd of people who were walking along the sidewalk,” she said.
The police closed the passage through the territory. Witnesses reported casualties.
The Guardian, citing witnesses, reported that there was a knife attack near London Bridge. At the disposal of the editors was a video of an eyewitness, on it at least three wounded. The publication also spoke to a homeless man who lives under a bridge. He reported that he heard the sound of a blow, after which he ran to the bridge, where he saw that a man jumped out of the van and "started attacking people."
Second attack. Boro Market
48 minutes after the London Bridge incident was reported, the Metropolitan Police Service tweeted an announcement that armed police were also looking into the Borough Market incident. Eyewitnesses reported that the area was being evacuated and there were casualties.
A pub guard near the bridge and Borough Market told the BBC that he saw four people stabbed by three attackers. One of the eyewitnesses, who was in the Market Porter pub, told the publication that he also saw three attackers, one of whom had a long knife, with which he attacked people. According to him, one of the victims was a girl in her 20s. According to eyewitness accounts cited by the BBC, the men involved in the second attack jumped out of a van that crashed into pedestrians on London Bridge with knives.
As The Guardian wrote, all people near the bridge and the market were evacuated. The publication spoke with the guest of the Novotel hotel from Australia, Zaven Jordan. According to him, the guests were awakened by a fire siren, and the police asked everyone to run, without giving instructions where.
Another eyewitness told the BBC that the attackers were shouting, "This is for Allah." The interlocutor of the publication said that he saw how they hit the girl 10 or 15 times. She ran and screamed, "Help me."
Vauxhall incident
Half an hour after the warning about the market attack, the police tweeted about the Vauxhall incident. What exactly happened was not specified. Police later tweeted that there had been a knife attack in the area, but it was unrelated to the Borough Market and London Bridge incidents.
Here is the headquarters of the secret intelligence service MI-6. According to the BBC, the authorities denied the information that the attack was aimed at this building.
Who is behind the attacks
This is the third terrorist attack in the UK in the last three months. In March, a car ran over pedestrians near Westminster, then five people were killed. Another 22 people were killed in an explosion in Manchester in May.
According to the BBC, no one has yet taken responsibility for what happened on Saturday. However, journalists' surveillance of social networks showed that the attacks in London were received with approval by supporters of the Islamic State terrorist organization. The publication reports that the police are looking for three people in connection with the attacks. The Daily Mail writes that police may have shot two suspects. Moreover,
First, a van crashed into passers-by on London Bridge, later it became known about an attack on people by three unknown people with a knife in the Borough Market, reports tvrain.ru.
First terrorist attack
On the evening of June 3, a white van crashed into passers-by on London Bridge. It is known that the car was moving at a speed of approximately 80 km / h, and then suddenly turned into people walking along the sidewalk. After that, the car fled the scene of the accident, leaving several injured people.
At about 10 pm, the police were already at the scene. The incident was reported by law enforcement officers on Twitter. This section of the road was blocked.
Second terrorist attack
Approximately 48 minutes after the first incident, the police reported a second one - already at the Borough Market, located on the same bridge along Southwork Street. There was also information about four victims. According to eyewitnesses, there were three attackers, they jumped out of the car and began to beat passers-by with a knife.
The police, who arrived at the scene, eliminated the intruders by opening fire on them. The men wore dummies of suicide belts.
The police evacuated all the people who were in the area of the bridge and the market, including the guests of the Novotel hotel, writes prososvu.ru.
At 00:25 local time on June 4, both incidents were classified as terrorist acts.
Vauxhall attack
Half an hour after the second attack was reported, the police sent forces to Vauxhall. Later it became known that there was an attack with a knife. However, law enforcement officers did not link the incident with the previous two.
Prime Minister Theresa May called the incident a "potential act of terrorism." Immediately after the attacks in the bridge area, she decided to hold meetings with representatives of law enforcement agencies and a meeting of the COBRA emergency committee.
According to the Russian embassy in London, there are no Russians among the victims of the June 3 attacks.
In Britain, this is the third terrorist attack in 2.5 months.
On Wednesday, March 22, a double terrorist attack took place near the British Parliament building, killing four people. At least 40 more people were injured. First, on Westminster Bridge across the Thames, a car rammed a crowd of pedestrians. Then the car went on and crashed into a fence located in the immediate vicinity of the bridge of the Palace of Westminster, where the British Parliament sits. An unidentified man jumped out of the car and, trying to enter the parliament building, stabbed a policeman, after which he was shot dead by special forces.
Eyewitnesses of the tragic events told DW about what happened immediately after the attack.
Bodies on the ground
The young man, who declined to give his name, drove the bus to Westminster Bridge just after the attack. The driver instructed all passengers to get off at St. Thomas Hospital. To the sound of sirens, an eyewitness told DW: "I got off the bus and saw a man lying next to him, around whom guidebooks were scattered."
"As I walked forward, I saw more bodies lying on the ground and people hugging each other. According to my observations, twelve people were laid on the ground, and one man's leg was broken and twisted," he added.
The Manchester woman, who also chose not to be named, was in London with friends when the attack took place. “I was walking across the bridge and I saw a car hit a lot of people. I saw people lying on their backs on the ground. The police got there really quickly, as did the ambulance. One man died,” she said. And she admitted that "I would never want to see something like that again."
The attack did not come as a surprise.
The police quickly cordoned off a large area around the British Parliament building, closed Westminster Bridge and Westminster tube station. Government buildings on Whitehall Street were also closed. While ambulances and police cars were approaching the scene, helicopters were loitering over the bridge. Curious tourists and schoolchildren crowded around the police cordons, wanting to know what happened.
The United Kingdom was hit by terror for the first time since 2005, when 52 people were killed and hundreds injured in three suicide bombings almost at the same time on the London Underground.
That tragic story is one of the reasons why the current attack did not come as a surprise to seventeen-year-old Sam and Osmond. At the same time, young people would like to understand why the attacker chose such a carefully guarded place for the attack. "It's the safest place you can be when there are so many cops around," says Osmond. If the attacks had taken place on a train, the young man would have been stunned. "But it's really stupid to do that here," adds Osmond.
Conflicting emotions
Around 5:00 p.m., employees began to gather in St. James's Park, trying to figure out how to get home with many underground stations closed, discussing what had happened along the way.
Civil servants are forbidden to communicate with journalists. However, a woman working at the Foreign Office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told DW that it was not initially known what was happening, and everyone had long been accustomed to the sounds of flying helicopters in the Westminster area.
Context
"I had a lot of work. Then I received messages from my children who asked if everything was all right with me. The fact that some events were happening, I realized only when I saw a message on Twitter. We were forced to stay in the building, however, we remained calm," the woman says.
Caleb, a college student from Exeter who was in London for a day, said he went to the scene as a photographer to see if he could take good pictures. His friend named Izzy was more excited. "It's a little scary, you never know what might happen," he shares. Asked if he would go on a tour of the Houses of Parliament if it was open the next day, Izzy firmly replied, "No!"
"That's life. You can't not go outside," says Maureen, a tourist from America. She texted friends and family at home, reassuring her that she was fine. At the same time, Maureen emphasized that what happened would not violate her plans.
By the end of the day, only police cordons and the noise of helicopters reminded of a terrorist act in the capital of Great Britain.
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According to the well-known scenario
On the anniversary of the Brussels attack, an apparently lone terrorist carried out a bloody attack in broad daylight in central London. Events largely developed according to the scenario already tested by the criminals in Nice and Berlin.
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A blow to the heart of British democracy
The COBRA Committee met
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who was in the Houses of Parliament, shortly before the attack, convened a meeting of the emergency government committee COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A), held only in cases of emergency. Late in the evening, the Prime Minister addressed the people of Great Britain.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
SUV killer
At approximately 2.40 pm local time, the offender drove a dark SUV at high speed into people on Westminster Bridge across the Thames, where there are always a lot of pedestrians and tourists. Without slowing down or stopping, the car crashed into the fence of the nearby Palace of Westminster, where the British Parliament sits.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
Failed to break through
The offender jumped out of the car and, trying to break into the parliament building, stabbed a policeman. SWAT officers shot and killed the assailant.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
Victims of the attack
According to preliminary information, the policeman, who was stabbed, died. In addition, three more people died from among the passers-by who found themselves at that hour on Westminster Bridge. Many of the victims taken to hospitals have serious injuries, so the number of victims could rise.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
The number of victims is specified
Arriving on a call, London ambulance service officers treated ten injured people right on the spot. Their total number, according to preliminary data, reached 40 people.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
MPs were not allowed to leave the building
The police actually immediately cordoned off the parliament building. The House of Commons was adjourned. However, for several hours neither deputies nor other workers could leave the Palace of Westminster. They were later evacuated by security personnel to Westminster Abbey.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
Act of terrorism
Scotland Yard spokesman Ben Julian Harrington said the same day that the Greater London Police Department assessed the incident as an "act of terrorism". He did not publish the name of the attacker, as well as his motives. However, law enforcement officials do not rule out that he acted under the influence of propaganda spread by the Islamic State militants.
A blow to the heart of British democracy
May: "Parliament will meet as usual"
London will continue to live its normal life, the prime minister announced, adding that, despite the attack, the terrorist threat level will not be changed. “Parliament will meet as usual and Londoners will go about their business as always. They will walk these streets, never giving up before terrorism and not allowing the voice of hatred and evil to separate us,” said Theresa May.
On June 3, late in the evening, a minibus drove into the crowd on the bridge in the center of the British capital. Several terrorists jumped out of it, they attacked people with knives, staged a real massacre. Seven people are killed. About 50 are wounded. The injured were taken to hospitals.
The wounded lie on the bridge. Passers-by help them. The footage was taken immediately after the tragedy. At the beginning of the eleventh evening there were a lot of people here, mostly tourists! After all, this is London Bridge - one of the most famous bridges in Britain. The minibus was not just driving along the pedestrian zone, it was zigzagging. The terrorists tried to crush as many people as possible. Having passed the entire bridge, they abandoned the car and with hunting knives attacked the vacationers in the Borough market area, which is right behind the bridge.
“I saw a guy on the ground. He shouted: "I was wounded, I was wounded!" I looked at him dumbfounded, there was a lot of blood around. His partner walked by shouting, "Someone stabbed my assistant, someone hit him!" The next thing I saw was how three guys ran with knives, they ran up to the girl and started hitting her,” the man says.
Police said there were three attackers, all of whom were shot dead at the scene of the crime. During the operation, a policeman was wounded. The photograph shows that there are some containers on the terrorist's belt. Journalists suggested that it was explosives. However, the investigators are categorical: this is a fake. Obviously, the attackers expected that when they saw the bomb, the police would not shoot. There is also a photo of the minibus of the criminals. All day it was studied by experts. Investigators interviewed numerous witnesses.
“I saw them enter the restaurant across the street. They walked with knives and beat people with them. How many? I find it difficult to say - three, five ... most likely more than five, ”the girl says.
Panic and stampede began, eyewitnesses say. According to some reports, someone jumped from the bridge in the hope of escaping. There was information that explosions thundered at the scene. Perhaps it was the sappers who neutralized suspicious objects, or it was the shots of the police. Claps were also heard by residents of nearby houses. Video footage shows the police firing at the terrorists.
Borough Market is a very popular place. There are dozens of pubs and restaurants. On Saturday evening they were all full. The police do not ask - they demand in a strict form: everyone should lie down!
“The guards told us to close the doors, lie down on the floor. There was a young man with his daughter. He blocked the door. People began to turn tables. Food scattered in all directions, chairs. Then we heard shots. Twice. We lay on the floor for 30 minutes,” says eyewitness Richard Engel.
Restaurant visitors are taken out. There may be criminals in the crowd, so everyone is forced to raise their hands. Women, children, the elderly are walking like hostages. Everyone's nerves are on edge.
There are police officers at the London Bridge. They ask everyone to leave, there is an evacuation from the premises that are located next to the Thames. The atmosphere is quite tense, people react very emotionally to the turned on camera. There are tourists from all over the world. They call their relatives to reassure them that we are alive. Evacuated and guests of numerous hotels. People ran out in what they were.
“We were at the hotel, going to sleep, the fire alarm went off, they told us something was happening on London Bridge, and we decided it was time for us to get out,” the woman says.
“I was not scared, but my granddaughter, of course, is scared, she is scared,” the man says.
Police sirens, ambulance sirens, fire engines sound. These cars drive by all the time.
Alexei Kashcheev is a neurosurgeon from Moscow and lives in a hotel near the site of the attack. It so happened that women who needed help knocked on his number.
“My room was closest to the fire exit. Several women came to me and asked for help because their friend had a panic attack. A woman is lying, rapid breathing, 100-120 per minute, does not make contact, in a cold sweat, with a high pulse. Etc. The main measure of assistance in this case is to calm the person with a word, give him a bag in which he will breathe, give him water, ”says Alexei Kashcheev, a neurosurgeon at the Scientific Institute of the Center for Neurology.
The area around Borough Market is cordoned off all day. It's a few hundred meters from here to the crime scene. Then only residents are allowed in and only if accompanied by police.
The opposite bank of the Thames. From here you can see London Bridge itself. A hundred meters away lies a bouquet of flowers. So far, only one.
This is how the very center of London looks like the day after the attack - you can walk along the roadway, traffic is blocked, there are no cars. Few people. More recently, the area has also been cordoned off.
The police, apparently, have already established the identity of the attackers. During the day, 12 people were detained in east London. They are suspected of involvement in the crime. One of the residents of the house where the special operation took place saw photographs of the shot terrorists on TV and recognized his neighbor, a Pakistani.
“He told me once that I should become a Muslim, but I am already a Muslim. Only now I understand what he meant,” the man says.
The residents of the capital are scared. This is the third terrorist attack in Britain in three months. Everyone has only one question in their mind: how is this possible?! The country has not yet recovered from the terrorist attack in Manchester. Two weeks ago, a bomb was detonated near the stadium where the concert was taking place. 22 people died, dozens were injured. Most of the victims are teenagers. The authorities promised: we will do everything possible so that the tragedy does not happen again.
For the first time in many years, the UK has declared its highest level of terrorist threat. Prime Minister Theresa May then admitted that the likelihood of a new attack is not just high. An attack is imminent, the head of government said. That is why the streets were patrolled by the military. And these heightened security measures are still in place.
But it's one thing to find armed terrorists, and another thing to figure out those who get into an ordinary minibus, pick up a knife and go to kill. As recent events in Britain show, even using all the resources of the special services and the army, stopping such people is an extremely difficult task.
“Last night, our country was once again the victim of a brutal terrorist attack. As a result, I have just chaired a government emergency committee meeting. Five more terrorist attacks have been thwarted in the UK since March 22. The last three attacks are unrelated, but the country is facing a new threat,” British Prime Minister Theresa May said.
This statement surprised many. How is it not related? The first and third attacks are an exact copy of each other. In March, in London, the offender also, by car, drove onto the pedestrian part of Westminster Bridge. In the same way, he rode "snake". And then he took out a knife and attacked the policeman. After that, metal blocks were installed along the parks of London, and massive arches were placed at the entrance. The banned Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in March. Who is behind the next attack is still unknown.
The fact that Theresa May, by the way, the former Minister of the Interior, declares that there is no relationship, speaks of the prime minister's confusion or unwillingness to publicly admit the obvious, experts say. As early as Thursday, June 8, parliamentary elections will be held in Britain, and May is the leader of the Conservatives. However, this series of attacks could undermine voters' confidence in the party that is now in power.
UPD 08:36
The number of hospitalized after the attacks in London has reached 48 people. This was announced today by the London ambulance service. "We have taken 48 people to hospitals following the London Bridge incident," the service said in a statement posted on its Twitter microblog. The victims are in five medical institutions in the British capital, doctors said. Earlier it was reported about 30 victims of the attacks. Last night, three men drove a car into pedestrians in the British capital, near London Bridge. Then they drove to the Borough Market, where they got out of the car and began to attack passers-by with knives. According to the latest reports, six people died as a result of the attacks. The attackers were killed by the police.
UPD 06:11
The death toll from the London attacks has risen to 30. 7 people became victims. This was announced today by Deputy Chief of Scotland Yard Mark Rowley. “At the moment, unfortunately, according to our information, 6 people have died, in addition to this, the police shot dead three attackers,” he said. According to him, three terrorists participated in the attack.
UPD 04:03
The incident on London Bridge allegedly killed seven passers-by, the police, in turn, managed to eliminate two attackers, the British edition of The Sun reported on Sunday.
UPD 04:00
Eyewitness video: Crowd fleeing after London Bridge incident
UPD 03:51
Five terrorists participated in the terrorist attack committed on Saturday on the London Bridge in the center of the British capital. The Sun newspaper reported today. According to her, a gang of five terrorists, dressed in stab-proof vests, sent a minibus at pedestrians at a speed of 80 km per hour before attacking people with hunting knives. - TASS
UPD 03:46
The mayor of London called the attacks a "planned and cowardly attack" on innocent residents - RIA Novosti
UPD 03:43
According to Sun, the explosions were controlled by the police.
UPD 03:38
Three explosions are reported in the area of London Bridge. Information not confirmed
According to the BBC, this is a photo of one of the suspects in the attacks. Some canisters are attached to the man's body. Boro market.
UPD 03:30
Armed police next to Borough Market
UPD 03:11
What is known:
Several people were injured in attacks in London. There are victims. Their number has not yet been established, but "more than one person," the city police told RIA Novosti. A senior source at Scotland Yard acknowledged that there were three separate incidents in the British capital that could be considered terrorist attacks. Earlier, the London Police Department confirmed the fact of a knife attack on visitors to the market in the Borough area, there were also incidents on the London Bridge and in the Vauxhall area. The police recognized the collision with pedestrians on London Bridge and the incident in Borough Market as terrorist attacks. The Vauxhall attack was a stabbing and unrelated to other incidents. Three terrorists, after their van ran into pedestrians on London Bridge, attacked passers-by with hunting knives. Presumably 10 people were killed and 20 injured. Sun reports 7 dead. According to some reports, the police managed to shoot two of the attackers. Currently, the search is underway for a third, according to British media. British police are carrying out a mass evacuation of people from buildings located within a radius of 1.5 km from the London Bridge, where the incident occurred. This was reported by the Daily Telegraph newspaper. According to the publication, people were evacuated, including from the Globe Theatre.
UPD 03:05
The police maintains a presence at the scene of an emergency in London, the danger remains, a source in Scotland Yard told RIA Novosti. “Officers are still on the ground, operational services continue to work ... The level of danger has not decreased”
UPD 03:00
Video of the arrest of the first suspect
Eyewitness video from London Bridge
UPD 02:55
The police officially recognized the attack on London Bridge and Borough Market as terrorist attacks. The Vauxhall incident turned out to be a stabbing, unrelated to the other two attacks.
UPD 02:50
Eyewitness: I thought it might be a fight…then people shouted “they have knives”
UPD 02:44
According to police, there are no Russians among the victims of a series of attacks in London, the embassy said.
7 killed and 20 injured
Arrest of second suspect
UPD 02:33
Theresa May may suspend the election campaign due to incidents in London
UPD 02:28
US President Donald Trump, after the attacks in London, announced the need to restore the validity of his decree in the field of immigration, which restricts, in particular, the entry into the country of citizens from a number of Muslim states. He wrote about this on Saturday on his Twitter page.
Photo from a London restaurant
Video from the scene at Borough Market
Police lead people out of the incident area with their hands raised above their heads
UPD 02:18
Theresa May to hold meeting of government emergency committee in connection with events in London - PM's office
UPD 02:18
Armed police search subway stations
UPD 02:06London Underground station Vauxhall has been closed due to an incident in Vauxhall, about 3 kilometers southwest of London Bridge, according to the London Department of Transport. London Bridge, Bank and Borough underground stations remain closed due to the emergency on and near London Bridge. The Sun newspaper also reports the closure of London Bridge, Waterloo East, London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street railway stations. - RIA
Attack map
UPD 01:56London Bridge incident leaves dead - BBC citing police
The Met Police says it has responded to three separate incidents at London Bridge, Borough Market and Vauxhall pic.twitter.com/p88T0lHTWp