Britain is on edge after a terrorist attack left at least four people dead outside the Houses of Parliament and raised renewed fears about security in Europe.
Police officers, both heavily armed and unarmed, were deployed across London on Wednesday night to protect residents and tourists, hours after the most significant attack on British soil since suicide bombers targeted the capital in 2005.
The assault happened in one of the busiest parts of London, at the foot of Big Ben and just down the road from Westminster Abbey. Police quickly labelled it a terrorist attack and said a man drove a large sport utility vehicle into a crowd of people along Westminster Bridge before crashing into a fence along the side of the Parliament buildings. He then ran toward the entrance to the House of Commons and stabbed an unarmed police officer before being gunned down. Police said four other people died, including the injured officer, and at least 40 have been injured including three other officers.
London attack: What we know so far about the attack at U.K. Parliament
In Photos: Scenes from the attack on U.K. Parliament in London (warning: graphic images)
Keith Palmer, 48, who is a 15-year veteran of the police force, was named as the murdered officer, according to Scotland Yard. Police said the attacker is thought to have been "inspired by international terrorism."
Prime Minister Theresa May and dozens of other members of Parliament were rushed to safety as police sealed off several blocks around Westminster and began a floor-by-floor check of the House of Commons. Ms. May called the attack "sick and depraved."
"The location of this attack was no accident," Ms. May said, adding that the terrorist chose to strike at the heart of the country's symbol of democracy and freedom. But, she added, "any attempt to defeat those values through violence is doomed to failure" and Parliament will resume as scheduled Thursday. Londoners "will all move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us apart," she said.
The killings have left the country shaken and it comes after similar terrorist incidents in France and Germany last year, where attackers used heavy vehicles to run over people along the promenade in Nice and at the Berlin Christmas market. The Parliament attack also comes on the anniversary of the Brussels attacks targeting the city airport and transit system.
Parliament had been on high alert as well ever since the murder of Jo Cox, a member of Parliament who was shot while meeting constituents in her riding nearly a year ago. That killing, by a far-right extremist, led to increased security around Westminster.
"We've been on much higher alert since the murder of Jo Cox, my friend and colleague," said Mary Creagh, an MP who was among a group of parliamentarians rushed out of a nearby office building. "We had a security briefing just yesterday for women MPs and I think this is the day that we have planned for and thought about, but it was a day that we all hoped would never come."
London has been relatively free of terrorist attacks since four British Islamists killed 52 commuters in suicide bombings on the city's transit system in 2005. The most significant incident since then came in 2013 when British soldier Lee Rigby was killed on a city street by two men who had been radicalized.
Police credited better co-ordination with other services and improved monitoring of around 400 people who joined the Islamic State group in Syria but have since returned to Britain. In an interview last summer, then commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police Service, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, told reporters that Britain had one of the best counterterrorism operations in the world. However, London has been on a "severe" terrorism alert for months.
The attack is also the first serious terrorist threat faced by Ms. May, who took over as Prime Minister last summer just weeks after Britain voted to leave the European Union. She is already coping with a host of issues, including Brexit and a renewed call for Scottish independence. Ms. May planned to begin pulling Britain out of the EU next week, by invoking the exit mechanism known as Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Now she will be consumed by security issues. Ms. May held a meeting of the government's emergency committee Wednesday night. She also spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump who offered full support in the ongoing investigation.
European leaders were also quick to offer support for Britain, knowing all too well that these kinds of attacks can stoke populist politicians who decry immigration and the EU. Presidential elections are only weeks away in France where the National Front's Marine Le Pen has called for a complete halt to immigration and linked it to terrorism.
"We are all concerned with terrorism," French President François Hollande told reporters. "France, which has been struck so hard lately, knows what the British people are suffering today." He added that that countries "must bring all the conditions to answer these attacks."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also faces re-election this year, added: "I want to say for Germany and its citizens: We stand firmly and resolutely by Great Britain's side in the fight against all forms of terrorism."
On the streets around Westminster, police armed with machine guns fanned out in patrols and shut down the Westminster underground station, one of the busiest in the city. Many people were locked in their offices for hours while police combed through buildings. The incident also happened just blocks from the new Scotland Yard building, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police. The Queen was expected to formally open the building on Thursday but that has been cancelled.
As of late Wednesday, the identity of the attacker had not been released, but Scotland Yard officials said they believed they knew who he was.
Acting Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley, who heads the counterterrorism unit, told reporters that police were satisfied that there was only one assailant, but he said the investigation was ongoing. He paused to offer condolences to the families of those who died, especially the family of the police officer.
"As a service, we've lost one of our own as he acted to protect the public and his colleagues," he said.
The drama began around 2:40 p.m. when the attacker drove into people on the bridge, killing two and injuring others. One badly injured woman fell into the Thames and had to be rescued. The attacker then crashed his vehicle and ran toward the main gates of Parliament. He stabbed an officer guarding the entrance and subsequently the attacker was shot and killed. Hospital officials said 12 people were treated for serious injuries and eight more were treated at the scene. The injured included three Grade 10 boys who were part of a group of French students visiting the capital.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who is also a parliamentary undersecretary responsible for counterterrorism, rushed to help the stabbed officer. Mr. Ellwood, a former soldier who lost his brother in a bombing in Indonesia, tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and applied pressure to the wounds. "I was on the scene and, as soon as I realized what was going on, I headed toward it. It is a huge tragedy, it really is," he told reporters. "I tried to stem the flow of blood and give mouth-to-mouth while waiting for the medics to arrive but I think he had lost too much blood."
Mitchell Spree happened upon the mayhem while driving home from work. A fire engineer, Mr. Spree had finished work on a project near Parliament and was heading home in his white van when he crossed on to Westminster Bridge moments after the car had plowed into pedestrians.
"I pulled onto the bridge and I just saw people laying on the ground," he said. "There were five people laying on the ground. There was debris of car all on the bridge."
Across the street from the shooting, Tawhid Tanim said he ran for his life when the shooting started. Mr. Tanim, 28, was standing outside the Westminster underground station waiting for a friend, when shots rang out. "All of a sudden I just heard these three shots, bang bang bang," he said. "For the first, I was like 'Well I'm going to die,' it was that kind of feeling. I was that close to the sound. I go over there, see car smashed into Parliament wall. There's a person under the car and people were trying to help."
Police then started shouting at everyone to run, he added. "Police said run, run. … It was like you were going to losing your life or something."
In a videotaped message at the end of a dramatic day, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the city remained one of the safest in the world.
"We stand together in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will. Londoners will never be cowed by terrorism," he said.
Paul Waldie