UK on High Alert After Terrorist Attacks

Image: PHOTO: London Bridge.  (photo via Flickr/Duncan)
Image: PHOTO: London Bridge. (photo via Flickr/Duncan)
Monica Poling
by Monica Poling
Last updated: 8:00 PM ET, Sat June 3, 2017

London was on high alert Saturday night, and iconic London Bridge was closed to all traffic after several people were killed and dozens of others injured in what police are calling a terror attack.

According to The Telegraph, pedestrians on the London Bridge were struck by a white van just before 10:10 p.m. Saturday night. The vehicle, driving at about 50 mph, appeared to intentionally jump a curb on the bridge and drive into pedestrians. The British publication reported that eyewitnesses saw multiple casualties and "bodies strewn across the pavement."

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ISIS has taken credit for the three attackers in the van, calling them ISIS "soldiers."

After driving into pedestrians, the three men exited the van and ran towards nearby Borough Market, where they stabbed numerous people in multiple locations. Patrons and staff in one restaurant began reportedly began fighting off the attackers with bottles and bar stools before police arrived.

After a standoff, police fatally shot all three men. They say the men were "neutralized" within eight minutes of the first emergency call.

They have since arrested 12 people in after carrying out several raids throughout London.

They city also saw a simultaneous stabbing in the Vauxhall neighborhood last night, which was initially thought to also be terrorist-related but has since been ruled coincidental in its timing.

This latest round of attacks comes less than two weeks after a lone bomber detonated a device outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, and two months after pedestrians on Westminster Bridge were similarly struck by a vehicle.

Per NBCNews.com, British Prime Minister Theresa May said, "We cannot and must not pretend that things can continue as they are," she told reporters outside her official residence on Sunday. "There is - to be frank - far too much tolerance of extremism in our country."

Characteristically, President Trump has weighed in via Twitter, using the attack as a reason to support his executive order banning all travel from six Muslim majority nations. "We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety," he tweeted Saturday night.

The executive order, which has been deemed unconstitutional by lower courts, is now headed to the Supreme Court.

Early Sunday morning, he also tweeted that "We must stop being politically correct and get down to the business of security for our people. If we don't get smart it will only get worse," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in London has encouraged traveling Americans to check in with loved ones or post updates on social media so friends and family know they are safe.


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