Deadly Attack Near U.K. Parliament, Four Dead (Video)

LONDON — An attack outside Parliament traumatized the seat of British power on Wednesday in a confusing swirl of violence that left at least four people dead — including an assailant and police officer — injured 20 and prompted the hasty evacuation of the prime minister.

The police said they were treating the attack as terrorism, which appeared to make it the most serious such assault in London since the deadly subway bombings more than a decade ago.

Throughout a turbulent afternoon, ambulances, emergency vehicles and heavily armed security officers thronged the area outside Parliament, as one of the busiest sections of London was cordoned off and evacuated. Prime Minister Theresa May was rushed into a vehicle and spirited back to her office, where her aides reported that she was safe.

The attack unfolded around 2:40 p.m., Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said at a news conference.

The driver of a large vehicle mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, which leads to Parliament, killing two people and injuring others, before crashing into a railing. Some of the injured were teenage schoolchildren from France.

After the crash, at least one man left the vehicle and approached Parliament, where he stabbed an armed police officer to death and was fatally shot by the police.

 

Tagged: UK 33, Parliament 10, London 6