LONDON, Feb 2: A man was shot dead by Scotland Yard officers in south London on Sunday in a terror-related stabbing which injured at least three people.
Emergency services, including paramedics and armed police, responded to the incident on Streatham High Road, from where social media images showed plain-clothed policemen pursuing a suspect who was later pronounced dead.
The Metropolitan Police said that three people are known to have been injured in the attack, one of whom has suffered life-threatening injuries.
“A man has been shot by armed officers in Streatham,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related… One person is at hospital in a life-threatening condition. We are in the process of informing their family,” the statement said.
Soon after the attack on Sunday afternoon, police confirmed that the scene had been “fully contained”, adding: “A second victim was treated for minor injuries at the scene before being taken to hospital.
“A third victim has been taken to hospital – their condition is not life-threatening.”
The exact circumstances of the incident remain unconfirmed but some eyewitnesses reported seeing a machete-wielding man with some silver canisters strapped to his body before he was shot.
Police shouted for people to “get back” as they cleared the area of shoppers and bystanders.
Pictures show the suspect face down and lying outside a Boots pharmacy shop as a police officer aims a gun.
Some reports suggest a man entered a shop and started stabbing people.
It appears he then left the shop and stabbed a woman, possibly a cyclist. Witnesses reported hearing three gun shots, as armed police approached.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson took to Twitter to thank the emergency services for their response to the attack.
“Thank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham, which the police have now declared as terrorism-related. My thoughts are with the injured and all those affected,” he said.
UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said in her Twitter statement that she is being kept updated by the police on the developments and hailed the “brave” officers who contained the situation.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan also thanked emergency services for their “swift and courageous response”, adding: “They truly are the best of us. Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life — here in London we will never let them succeed.”
In November last year, two people were killed after convicted terrorist Usman Khan went on a stabbing frenzy in London Bridge area of the UK capital. (PTI)
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