UK Parliament attack: Four including assailant dead, at least 20 injured

Four people including a policeman and over a dozen were injured in a terror attack on the UK Parliament on Wednesday.

London: At least four people, including the attacker and a police officer, died in Wednesday's terrorism incident at the British parliament, police said.

Britain's top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley confirmed the report as he spoke to media, "Four people have died. That includes the police officer who was protecting parliament and one man we believe to be the attacker who was shot by a police firearms officer."

The dead also included a woman who was killed when a speeding grey Hyundai i40 mowed down several pedestrians on Westminster Bridge nearby before ramming into the iron railings on the side of the Palace of Westminster - which houses the House of Commons and Lords as well as the iconic Big Ben.

Several injuries were reported as a result of this crash, with bodies seen lying on the bridge and one over-board in the river Thames. At least 20 people are so far said to have been injured in what police said they were treating as a "terrorist" attack.

British police said there had been an unspecified number of casualties including police officers in the "terrorist incident". 

"We know there are a number of casualties including police officers but at this stage we cannot confirm numbers or the nature of these injuries," Commander BJ Harrington told reporters.

"We received a number of different reports which included a person in the river, a car in collision with pedestrians and a man armed with a knife."

He said the acting head of London police, Craig Mackey, was being treated as a significant witness as he was at scene when the incident took place. He was not one of those injured.

Meanwhile, British PM Theresa May's thoughts are with those killed and injured in an attack close to parliament and the British prime minister is being kept updated with developments, her office said on Wednesday.

"The thoughts of the PM and the government are with those killed and injured in this appalling incident, and with their families," her office said in a statement.

Witnesses described seeing a car crash into the perimeter fence on Westminster Bridge, hitting pedestrians, before the driver ran towards police officers guarding parliament.

Onlookers said a man armed with a knife had attacked police officers at the gate before being shot.

Journalist Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail newspaper told LBC radio that he had witnessed the stabbing of the policeman and the shooting of the assailant from his office in the parliament building.

"He (the assailant) ran in through the open gates ... He set about one of the policemen with what looked like a stick," Letts said.

"The policeman fell over on the ground and it was quite horrible to watch and then having done that, he disengaged and ran towards the House of Commons entrance used by MPs (members of parliament) and got about 20 yards or so when two plain-clothed guys with guns shot him."

The sitting in the House of Commons was suspended while police officers sealed off the area around the incident. 

Three injured people were also visible on the floor outside Parliament and the Palace was placed on an immediate lock down. 

Meanwhile, French officials told media that three French schoolchildren were hurt in the attack near London's parliament today. 

"The three students from the Concarneau Lycee in Brittany, western France, were on a school trip there," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement. The statement did not say how serious the injuries were.

A total of 90 students from the school were in London, about a dozen of which were in the area of the attack, an official at the school told Reuters.

Earlier, there were reports that there were two assailants behind the London Parliament attack. 

"Police are still searching for one of the two people believed to have launched Wednesday`s attack outside the British parliament building," assistant editor of the Daily Telegraph newspaper Christopher Hope tweeted, citing senior government sources.

PM Theresa May is said to have been bundled into a car by a plain-clothes police officer and driven quickly from the scene. 

The House of Commons, which was in session at the time, was immediately suspended and lawmakers were asked to stay inside.

Minutes after the incident, an emergency services helicopter landed in Parliament Square, as sirens were heard outside. Air ambulance medics came from the helicopter to assist the casualties.

A Reuters photographer saw at least a dozen people injured on Westminster Bridge and photographs showed people lying on the ground, bleeding heavily. The number of casualties was unclear however.

The leader of the House, David Lidington, said in the chamber that an assailant who stabbed a policeman had been shot by police.

Meanwhile, the London Mayor tweeted: "Avoid Parliament Sq, Whitehall, Westminster & Lambeth Bridge, Victoria St up to junction with Broadway & Victoria Embankment/tube #London"

Parliament Square was closed to traffic.

Avoid Parliament Sq, Whitehall, Westminster & Lambeth Bridge, Victoria St up to junction with Broadway & Victoria Embankment/tube #London — Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 22, 2017

The incident has taken place on the first anniversary of attacks by Islamist militants that killed 32 people in Brussels.

Reuters reporters inside parliament said a large number of armed police, some carrying shields, were pouring into the building. A Reuters photographer said he saw at least a dozen people injured on Westminster Bridge, next to parliament.