UK Parliament attack: 5 dead including cop, alleged assailant; 40 hurt
London: Five people were killed and 40 others injured in a "terrorist" attack in the heart of London Wednesday when a man mowed down pedestrians on a bridge, then stabbed a police officer outside parliament before being shot dead.
Police guarding the iconic House of Commons building shot the man but several people were left with "catastrophic" injuries on Westminster Bridge, a busy traffic junction popular with tourists with views of Big Ben.
The car crashed into the railings outside the heavily guarded parliament building and witnesses described a man leaping out of the vehicle into the grounds of parliament and stabbing a police officer.
Police close the area near Houses of Parliament, London, after sounds similar to gunfire have been heard close to the Houses of Parliament, London. (Photo: AP)
The incident comes with Europe on high alert after a series of deadly jihadist attacks and exactly a year after jihadists killed 32 people in a bomb attack in Brussels.
The parliament building was immediately sealed off and MPs and staff ordered to remain inside. "We are treating this as a terrorist incident," police said in a statement.
Police secure the area on the south side of Westminster Bridge close to the Houses of Parliament in London. (Photo: AP)
Those dead included the police officer and the attacker, authorities said. David Lidington, the British minister responsible for arranging government business, told MPs: "It seems that a police officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police." Prime Minister Theresa May is safe, her Downing Street office said, and was preparing to chair a meeting of the government's COBRA emergencies committee.
Police secure the area on the south side of Westminster Bridge close to the Houses of Parliament in London. (Photo: AP)
She was seen being driven away from parliament. Police cordoned off a large area in Westminster and tourists on the London Eye, a popular tourist attraction, were stuck 135 metres (443 feet) in the air for around an hour during the incident. The local Underground station at Westminster was also closed off.
