good evening two people have died in
what the Metropolitan Police are
describing as a terrorist incident on
London Bridge the attacker was later
shot dead several members of the public
managed to wrestle him to the ground and
their bravery has been widely praised
police say the attack started here in
fishmongers Hall at the northern end of
the bridge now the alarm was raised just
before 2:00 p.m. this afternoon the
attacker then appears to have moved on
to the bridge where he was tackled and
disarmed amid some chaotic scenes police
then arrived at 3 minutes past two
that's 5 minutes after the first
emergency call armed officers then fired
two shots
killing the suspect fearing he was
wearing an explosives vest
well the prime minister who's chairing a
cobra meeting in Downing Street right
now said earlier that any accomplices to
the attack will be hunted down and
brought to justice
while the Mayor of London sunny kin
praised what he called the breathtaking
heroism shown by members of the public
who tackled the suspect tonight large
parts of central London remained
cordoned off and there are extra police
patrols on duty across the capital well
our correspondent Daniel Sandford is at
the scene live for us tonight Daniel
there's clive once again a major bridge
in central london is closed following a
suspected terrorist attack which killed
two people once again it involved knives
and a fake bomb and once again police
had to kill the suspect the attack
started at fishmongers appalled at
what's thought to have been a
criminal-justice event and the main
suspect is thought to have been a former
prisoner attending that event my report
of the day contains some distressing
details and pictures
it's a crisp winter afternoon in the
City of London when just before two
o'clock the panic starts passengers
filming from a bus see armed officers
pointing their weapons there's a
struggle on London Bridge as two of the
officers go forward beside the melee as
a man standing with a knife which he's
taken from the suspect he runs with it
his armed officers shouts get back
they put away a man who's wrestling with
the suspect and then open fire there
were two loud pops he went when he was
lying on the floor after the Pops he
then sort of pulled his jacket back
and you could see underneath that there
was some sort of vest were there a stab
vest or a explosive vest and at that
point the police office officers really
backed away of course I was really
scared at this point because we were
about as close as the police officers in
our bus so yeah that was scary there was
more firing and a suspect who police say
was wearing a hoax bomb died at the
scene I can confirm at this time we
believe a device that was strapped to
the body of the suspect is a hoax
explosive device the London Ambulance
Service declared a major incident at
least five people who'd been stabbed
were taken to hospital but two of them
died
my heart goes out to their loved ones
and to the three further injured victims
who I understand are being treated in
hospital
and of course to everybody who has been
affected by today's terrible and
mindless events the attack started in
fishmongers Hall people attending a
criminal justice event they're said at
least one woman had been stabbed
shocked witnesses from the hall some of
them with blood on their clothes were
ushered away and driven off in a bus
commandeered by police then the area was
flooded by armed officers and other
specialist teams as all the surrounding
buildings were evacuated it's 20 past
3:00 normally at this time on a Friday
the city is buzzing the bars open people
starting to make their way home but this
evening it is sealed off with armed
officers and officers with dogs
patrolling every Street this evening
with a good section of the city was
still closed off the leaders of the two
main parties were defiant I think the
message that we send to them and anyone
associated with this type of attack is
one that will be familiar and that is
that this country will never be cowed or
divided or intimidated by this sort of
attack and our values our British values
will prevail we have to remember that we
live in a democratic society and those
that would seek to silence us will not
succeed our democracy must be alive and
vibrant tonight a full-blown terrorism
investigation is under way three and a
half weeks ago the threat level was
lowered from severe to substantial but
today the city was reliving the horrors
of the London Bridge attack two and a
half years ago
Daniel Sanford BBC news at London Bridge
well in a moment we'll hear from our
deputy political editor John Pienaar in
Downing Street but first let's speak to
Sarah Campbell who's a new scotland yard
for us tonight Sarah what more are
police saying well the Metropolitan
Police have given two statements here
today giving this clear timeline of
events so the commissioner Cressida Dick
described how the event started at
fishmongers Hall with the police
receiving the first call at 158 this
afternoon and then she said just five
minutes later City of London police had
confronted the suspect now in terms of
what's happening here this evening
counterterrorism detectives she said
would be working around the clock to
identify the victims and to help their
families whilst at the same time working
at Full Tilt she said to understand what
happened and crucially whether anyone
else was involved in practical terms in
London this does mean that those cordons
around London Bridge will remain in
place for some time London of course
very busy at the moment with shoppers
and with tourists and as reassurance the
commissioner said that people would
expect to see more police on the streets
both armed and unarmed and anyone with
any information is asked to call the
anti-terror hotline under straight to
you John in Downing Street any word yet
from that Cobra meeting being chaired by
Boris Johnson well we wait for word
after that meeting is taking place
behind me here at number and number 10
the prime minister in the chair so he
can be the mayor of London he's in the
in the meeting - the prime minister's
been kept fully briefed on the police
operation and the latest intelligence
and his job today since the operation
itself has been running on well planned
and practiced lines with no need for
political interference he's had a big
job of articulating the view of the
country so he's thanked the emergency
services he's praised members of the
public who stepped in at some risk to
themselves and he any articulate
articulated that message of defiance
which has been picked up by leaders of
all the main parties now Boris Johnson
tonight has stepped back from
campaigning he'll do the same again
somewhere
the Labour Party has suspended
campaigning in London this evening but
when campaigning picks up again as
normal and that will happen quickly you
can naturally expect that that security
and that confronting the threat of
terrorism will rise higher up the
election agenda in coming days okay John
thank you for that John Pienaar there in
Downing Street and a Sarah Campbell and
New Scotland Yard our security
correspondent Gordon Carrera is here
what is the latest on the investigation
into all this well initially this looked
very similar to that attack on London
Bridge two years ago in which civilians
innocent people were pleased to be
targeted at random at the bridge in
Borough Market but as the day has gone
on our picture has evolved somewhat as
to what might have happened today the
incident did start in fishmongers Hall
where there was a criminal justice
research meeting taking place the person
believed to be responsible is the BBC
understands thought to be a former
prisoner and I've been told there is a
connection with that event in terms of
what's happened now there was no
intelligence no advance warning that
anything like this could have happened
although there will be questions about
it
the threat level against the UK was
actually brought down a level from
severe to substantial at the start of
the month reflecting that they'd seen
less potential attack planning and
activity recently the one thing they
will think though is that the actual
response to the attack did happen very
quickly thanks to the police thanks to
members of the public now it turns the
investigation understanding all the
details of that man who understand has
been identified understanding what
motivated him specifically whether he
was targeting specific people and
crucially whether there were any other
connections and whether there is any
residual threat out there if there is
then we may see that threat level go up
but at the moment it hasn't gone out
okay Gordon Thank You Gordon Carrera our
security correspondent our home affairs
correspondent Daniel Sandford is at the
scene forest Daniel this of course
bringing back terrible memories of that
other attack just 18 months ago on the
bridge
your scribed that's right it was just
two and a half years ago the the London
Bridge attack took place just a few
hundred yards from here and that in the
same year as the horrors of the
Manchester Arena the Westminster Bridge
attack and the Finsbury Park attack and
there had been a sense that we were
starting to put that year of terror
behind us the threat level had been
reduced from severe to substantial and
things were starting to move on people
started to feel that they weren't being
hit by attack after attack after attack
and now comes another horrendous fatal
suspected terrorist attack right in the
heart of central London and
overshadowing the whole thing tonight is
the fact that this suspect is a former
prisoner on I've had it confirmed just
in the last few minutes that he's a
former prisoner convicted of a terrorism
offence still serving his licence period
after having been released from prison
and so now questions are already being
asked about how we deal with former
prisoners not least of all by the Prime
Minister himself and as we get through
the next few days that question how do
you deal with former terrorist prisoners
once they've been released I think it's
going to be hanging over the whole
tragic affair okay Daniel Thank You
Daniel Sandford our home affairs
correspondent there and this is the
scene at London Bridge tonight as police
continue their investigations two people
died today and three others are still
being treated in hospital