TERROR RAMPAGE AT WESTMINSTER
Dramatic moment an armed policeman stands on knife and trains his gun on maniac who caused carnage in an attack on Parliament yesterday
At least 4 dead and 20 are seriously injured
Brave MP fights in vain to save hero policeman
Woman survives after jumping from bridge into River Thames
BRITAIN was on major alert last night after a terrorist attacker unleashed carnage in the heart of London.
The fanatic killed two people as he drove a 4x4 car at speed along the pavement on Westminster Bridge.
After crashing his hired vehicle, he ran on foot into the grounds of the Palace of Westminster where he stabbed and killed an unarmed policeman who challenged him.
Moments later he was shot and killed by a police marksman in New Palace Yard, overlooked by House of Commons offices.
Last night Prime Minister Theresa May chaired a meeting of the Government’s Cobra crisis committee to discuss possible copycat attacks.
After the meeting Mrs May vowed that “the forces of evil” would never be allowed “to drive us apart”.
As counter-terrorism officers launched a major operation, there were fears of further outrages in London and Britain’s other big cities.
Meanwhile, the full horror of the terror rampage emerged.
Driving a powerful Hyundai 4x4, the killer sped across Westminster Bridge at 2.40pm, mowing down more than 20 pedestrians including three police officers as he zig-zagged several times from road to pavement smashing into victims.
A woman was knocked or jumped over the bridge parapet to get out of the way of the vehicle and into the freezing River Thames. She was rescued and given emergency medical treatment at a nearby pier.
One man was flung several feet down a stone stairwell and is understood to have died shortly afterwards.
And a woman who was knocked under the wheels of a bus also died.
Doctors treating the injured described some of the injuries as “catastrophic.”
Some were fighting for their lives and there were fears the death toll could rise.
The attacker then crashed into iron railings in the shadow of Big Ben before leaping out of the car and dashing through a security gate in a bid to get into Parliament where MPs including the Prime Minister were attending a voting session and meetings.
Wielding an eight-inch knife, he stabbed and mortally wounded the police officer who confronted him. The killer was then shot dead by a police marksman who blasted him three times at close range with a sub-machine gun.
Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood was on the scene before paramedics and tried to save the injured police officer by giving him the kiss of life.
But he had lost too much blood to be saved.
Officers also tried to save the life of the killer – described as an Asian man in his 40s – but he died at the scene. Shortly after the killer was gunned down in the yard, Parliament was suspended and the building went into “lockdown”.
Some MPs were kept in the Commons chamber for five hours while others, staff and peers were kept in medieval Westminster Hall and Parliament’s goldceilinged Central Lobby. Mrs May was whisked away in a silver Jaguar by the “biggest security man you ever saw,” a witness said.
A group of 53 year-six pupils from St John and St Francis School in Bridgwater, Somerset, were on a trip to the Palace of Westminster as the incident unfolded.
A member of staff tweeted: “We’re all sat in the centre of the Houses of Parliament. We are safe, happy and lightening the mood with a sing song.”
In Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Palace, chefs in their white uniforms mingled with suited peers of the realm, journalists and MPs as police asked for witnesses to the attack.
Politicians recounted what they had seen and heard. Former education secretary Nicky Morgan said: “The Division Bell had just gone and MPs were making their way to the House of Commons chamber.
“I was walking from Portcullis House along the path of Old Palace Yard when suddenly shots rang out.
“It takes a moment to realise that is actually gunfire and at that point people were yelling get down, get back.
“We have at the back of our mind all the time that something terrible can happen.
“The first thing is, is that actually gunfire? Have you misheard?
“But the reaction of the officers around made it very clear this is a very serious situation.” Former cabinet minister Anna Soubry tweeted that she and the Security Minister, Ben Wallace MP, were ordered out of the library and into the Parliament lobby “at gun point” by police officers, calling it “terrifying”.
Acting Metropolitan Police Commissioner Craig Mackey saw part of the bloody drama and is a “significant witness” in the investigation by his own force.
Mark Rowley, acting Deputy Commissioner and Britain’s chief counter terrorism officer, said: “Sadly, I can confirm that now four people have died – that includes the police officer who was protecting Parliament and one man we believe to be the attacker. At least 20 people have been injured.”
Crime scenes in New Palace Yard and across Westminster Bridge will remain in place for some time, Mr Rowley said. He added: “We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only one attacker, but it would be foolish to be overconfident so early on.”
Extra police – both armed and unarmed – will be on patrol in London with some leave cancelled, he said.
Army units, including the SAS, were on standby last night and could
‘Other terrorists could be inspired by this’
be drafted in to help protect the capital.
Raffaello Pantucci, director of security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, warned last night: “Other terrorists could be inspired by this and it’s becoming the acceptable way of doing things.
“It’s certainly something that could be copied.”
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, speaking during a visit to Pakistan, said: “I know the whole country will be thinking of and praying for those affected by this terrible incident. Our top priority is people’s security.
“We have the best police and security services in the world and we will let them get on with their job.”
President Donald Trump offered the “full co-operation and support” of the US in responding to the attack and “bringing those responsible to justice”.
The killer struck on the first anniversary of the Brussels terror attack which claimed the lives of 32 innocent people.
It was also the first terror attack in Britain since Drummer Lee Rigby was mown down by a car and hacked to death in Woolwich, south London, in May 2013.
The attack took place yards from where former Northern Ireland secretary Airey Neave was killed when his car was blown up by a republican terrorist bomb in 1979, the last time someone was murdered at Westminster.