said. but british democracy would not be defeated, and indeed she said parliament this is the bbc news special. our main story touch terrorism in the heart of westminster. a vehicle and knife attack has left four people, including a police opposite, dead. on the other side of the road there was a body, when i looked further up there was another body, when i looked over the side of the bridge there appeared to be a body in the water as well. eyewitnesses say a car mowed down pedestrians. that was a westminster bridge, before it crashed into railings at parliament. at least two people who were hit have died, and 20 others have been injured. the attacker was shot and apprehended by police and is among the dead. three french students are

among the injured, the french prime minister has promised his full support for the victims. the prime minister, who was in parliament, has returned to downing street to chair and emergency cobra meeting. hello from westminster. we are at the police cordon around westminster after a day which has seen four people killed, including the attacker who stabbed a police officer at the palace gates, the palace of westminster gates, and who died of stab wounds. the attacker began, it seems, by driving a vehicle across westminster bridge and running into civilians who were pedestrians on that bridge,

including a group of french schoolchildren from brittany. three of them were injured, a woman was thrown over the bridge into the river thames and pulled alive from the river thames. 20 people injured in all, according to the london ambulance service, four dead, including the attacker. two people on the bridge and the police officer who was stabbed to death. in the last few minutes we have heard from british prime minister theresa may, who has chaired a meeting of the government's emergency committee, cobra. after that meeting she described the attack as sick and depraved but said british democracy would go one, people would live their lives as normal despite this attack and, indeed, at westminster, parliament will sit as normal tomorrow, both mps and peers. i have just chaired a meeting tomorrow, both mps and peers. i havejust chaired a meeting of tomorrow, both mps and peers.

i have just chaired a meeting of the government emergency committee, cobra, following the second to depraved terrorist attack on the streets of our capital this afternoon. touch the sick and depraved. full details of what happened are still emerging, but having been updated by police and security officials i can confirm the appalling incident began when a single attacker drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across westminster bridge, killing two people and injuring many more, including three police officers. this attacker, who was armed with a knife, ran towards parliament, where he was confronted by the police officers who keep us and our democratic institutions safe. tragically, one officer was killed. the terrorist was also shot dead. the terrorist was also shot dead. the united kingdom's threat level has been set at severe for some time, this will not change. acting

deputy commissioner rowley will give a further operational update later this evening. 0ur a further operational update later this evening. our thoughts and prayers go out to all who have been affected, to the victims themselves and their family affected, to the victims themselves and theirfamily and affected, to the victims themselves and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off but will not now be welcoming them home. for those of us who were in parliament at the time of this attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the exceptional bravery of our police and security services who risked their lives to keep us safe. 0nce risked their lives to keep us safe. once again, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger, even as they encouraged others to move the other way. 0n the half of the whole country, i wa nt to 0n the half of the whole country, i want to pay tribute to them and to all our emergency services for the work they have been doing to reassure the public and bring

security back to the streets of our capital city —— on behalf of the whole entry. that they have lost one of their own in today's attack only makes the calmness and professionalism under pressure all the more remarkable. the location of this attack was no accident. the terrorist chose to strike at the heart of our capital city, where people of all nationalities, religions and cultures come together to celebrate the values of liberty, democracy and freedom of speech. the streets of westminster, home to the world's old est westminster, home to the world's oldest parliaments, are ingrained with a spirit of freedom that echoes in some of the furthest corners of the globe, and the values are parliament represents, democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of

law, command the admiration and respect of free people everywhere. that is why it is a target for those who route... reject those values. let me make it clear, any attempt to defeat those values through terrorist doomed to failure. tomorrow parliaments will meet as normal. londoners and others who have come here to visit this great city will go about their day as normal. they will for their trades, leave their hotel rooms, walk the streets, live their lives. —— they will board their trains. we will move forward together, never giving in to terror and never allowing the voices of hate and evil to drive us

apart. prime minister theresa may speaking a few minutes ago after chairing a cobra meeting at the end of an horrific day and westminster which began with an attack are driving across westminster bridge, ploughing into pedestrians on that bridge and is causing about 20 casualties. and, we gather, stabbing police officer at the gates of westminster who later died of his injuries. four dead, including the assailant. let's get this report from our political editor laura kuenssberg. "run". "move". "go"- gunshots. the shouts around the heart of westminster.

the centre of our government. normally, a safe place. not today. members of the public, politicians, the hundreds of staff for whom this is work, in politics, for some, a home from home. lockdown, a place of danger. ministers rushed to safety. there are at least a couple of hundred people inside portcullis house. this is the heart of where westminster does its business and we're part of a lockdown after what happened outside. a police officer has told me one man was shot at the front, and mps heard three orfour gunshots on their way to vote. this is a place that is tightly guarded at all times, but a sense of shock,

finally it appears something so serious has happened right here in the heart of westminster. inside, everything unclear. 0rder. i am now going to suspend the sitting of the house. this house is now suspended, but please wait here. then in a chamber that sat through all sorts of situations, work interrupted. there has been a serious incident within the estate. it seems that a police officer has been stabbed. that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. an air ambulance is currently attending the scene to remove the casualties. there are also reports of further violent incidents in the vicinity of the palace of westminster, but i hope colleagues on all sides will appreciate, that it will be wrong of me here to go into further details until we have confirmation from the police and from the house

security authorities about what is going on. as the seriousness of the attack began to spread, mps told me they heard three or four gunshots on their way to vote. 0thers saw with their eyes, from their office windows. we saw a thickset man in black clothes come through the gates into new palace yard. new palace yard is just below big ben. this man had something in his hand, it looked like a stick. he was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellowjackets. one of the policemen fell down. we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that suggested he was either stabbing or striking the yellow—jacketed policeman. one of the policemen ran to get help, which was very, very quick to come. as this attacker was running

towards the entrance used by mps, two plainclothes guys with guns shouted at him, uttered what sounded like a warning. he ignored it and they shot two or three times and he fell. westminster bridge, a tourist spot. this afternoon, violence stilled it. i heard what i thought wasjust a collision. and then i looked out the window of the taxi and i saw someone down, obviously in great distress. then i saw a second person down and i started filming and i saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely. so what i saw was an incident involving at least five people seriously injured. i was just walking across the bridge when suddenly a bus stopped, people were screaming and came off the bus and they seemed very upset. then i saw what appeared to be

a trainer on the side of the road. 0n the other side of the road there was a body and when i looked further up, there was another body. 0n the other side of the bridge, there appeared to be a body in the water as well. a car and driver intent on taking the lives of those who came to see. what is normally a safe circle, the most tightly guarded part of the city, danger and confusion. as you know, we have declared this isa as you know, we have declared this is a terrorist incident. the counter terrorism command are carrying out a full—scale investigation into the events today. the attack started when a car was driven over westminster bridge, hitting and injuring a number of members of the public, also including three police officers on their way back from a commendation ceremony. the car crashed near to parliament and at least one man, armed with a knife, continued the attack and tried to enter parliament.

sadly i can confirm that now four people have died. that includes the police officer who was protecting parliament, and one man we believe to be an attacker who was shot by a police firearms officer. was this one who was responsible? so much is unclear. police and the government are considering this attack as the most serious of its kind. for an attack to stop democracy, not just politicians who came to work, but hundreds of people to visit and be part of this place. we still don't really know what is going on. this group of students was brought here for the day to see how parliament works. little did they know what kind of situation would unfold. it's still very hard to believe what's happened here today. an attack, that in theory, many expected to come to london again one day, but the truth of an event like this in practice, a shock in our parliament,

a shock in our country. whatever the motive, an effort to stop our democracy in its tracks. laura kuenssberg reporting. we have heard from the prime minister, theresa may, in the last few minutes, that parliament will set tomorrow as normal because democracy will not be stopped in its tracks was the thrust of what theresa may was the thrust of what theresa may was saying after chairing a metre of cobra, the government emergency committee. —— chairing a meeting. people in and around the palace of westminster have been in lockdown ever since the attack. in the last hour or so they have finally been allowed to go home and we have seen people streaming away from the area. we have heard from eyewitnesses throughout the day as to what happens, one of them was emerging from underground station when the

attack was going on, he spoke to daniel sandford. i was coming out of the chubut westminster at about 2:45pm, it was clear something had happened, police we re clear something had happened, police were offering people out of the tube station very quickly. i was ushered onto westminster bridge, but then i looked across to the west pavement and there were bodies, people lying on the bridge being attended to. so i then moved up into the middle of the bridge, looked further down the south side of the bridge and it was clear there were also bodies, people lying on the floor on the western pavement. when i spoke to someone who had clearly been on the bridge at the time of the incident they said that a car had mounted the pavement, or a vehicle, and literally driven the whole way from south to north, up the bridge, knocking people over. i counted eight people the length of the bridge from south to north, at least eight. one was clearly in a sort of shocked moment, so you are not quite sure what is going on, but as i looked up and down they were being tended to. as i was standing there, an ambulance came over, landed in parliament square and out

came an incredible number of security personnel, both obviously from the ambulance service, paramedics, but also suddenly plain clothes people, people with masks on, people with machine guns. the quantity of armed personnel arriving was very significant very quickly. then as i looked there were vehicles arriving from the embankment, both police vehicles, vehicles with lights on and then a grey van with a number of security personnel. in a sense reassuring to know that there were so many armed security personnel looking after our safety so quickly after what was clearly a pretty dramatic event. richard tice talking to daniel sandford. as the stade draws to a close, let's bring you up to date with what we know, four dead

including the attacker and 20 casualties, 20 people injured. they are being treated at a number of hospitals around westminster, including king's college hospital and st thomas' hospital. 20 people injured among those, some schoolchildren from france on a schoolchildren from france on a school trip, from brittany in fact, we gather that their parents and families have gathered at the school in brittany waiting for news, three of those injured were those french schoolchildren. let's get a report from our deputy political editor john pienaar. it is one of the busiest and best guarded sites in britain, in europe. the police response took moments and as the cordons close, those who watched these terrifying scenes unfold added to the accounts of what had just taken place. 200 yards from big ben, overlooking westminster bridge, i arrived just after the incident, and i bumped into a group of extremely traumatised french teenagers who were here on a trip for a week.

one of them described to me what had happened on the bridge, how he saw a car drive into what he thought were two or three of the people with him. many of the people were too upset, crying too much to talk, some in shock. i passed one person lying on the pavement covered in one of those metallic blankets you see after the marathon. and from inside parliament itself, reporters heard the attacker‘s car hit the barriers outside, and saw what happened next. we heard a big bang outside at about 2:40pm and then screaming, a man shouting. and then 200 or so tourists or passers—by started running from westminster bridge across the pavement in front parliament to westminster abbey. there was shooting outside parliament and an ambulance landed. the police are marking the area out with cones.

emergency services converged in force to tend to the casualties. at this stage, no—one knew quite how many. metres away, london life went on blissful ignorance. 0ne mp helped raise the alarm. i then made my way into the tube station and i could see people walking around with their kids like it was a normal day. i went straight to the control room and said, you need to shut the tube station now, we have got a terror attack on the palace of westminster, you need to shut it now. he put a radio alert out to all staff and they put on their high—visibilityjackets. all the mps were going to vote when the incident happened. it sounds like i was a little bit further ahead of her on the way to the old palace when the gunshots rang out. it takes a moment to think that is not a car backfiring,

that is a gunshot. then there was lots of yelling, get down on the floor, get back into the building, which is what we all did. the numbers killed, the casualty list has grown. an attack aimed at the heart of british national life. the security services will study what happened here and seek to learn the lessons even as innocent victims are treated and the families of the dead begin to mourn. theresa may in her statement tonight described the attack as sick and depraved and said that any attempt to change the british way of life, to change the british way of life, to attack british democracy, was doomed to failure and to that end, she said, parliament would sit as normal as westminster tomorrow. mps and peers will be sitting as normal despite what happened here today and

the fact that all of westminster has beenin the fact that all of westminster has been in lockdown for the last few hours, that is now over and people are allowed to go back to their homes, but 20 people or so, casualties injured, being treated in hospital, including french schoolchildren, police officers and a woman who fell into the river thames from westminster bridge when the car was attacking pedestrians. that is the latest from westminster at this police cordoned, where there is still a lot of police activity, ambulances, police cars, the police helicopter moving around all the time. i will hand you back to the studio. thank you, ben. more from ben brown and the team and westminster coming up. police say they are treating today's attack as a terrorist incident. since 2014 the threat level for international terrorism in the uk has been rated as severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. questions

are being asked tonight about somebody carrying a weapon managed to penetrate pa rliament‘s somebody carrying a weapon managed to penetrate parliament's and hands security system. gordon corera has this assessment of today's events. armed officers around the palace of westminster this afternoon. in the immediate aftermath of a long feared attack. it is supposed to be one of the most secure sites in the country, precisely because it has long been top of the target list for terrorists. armed police have regularly carried out exercises like this one to secure parliament and the area around it. but the challenges in stopping every attack are enormous and today they were having to respond for real. the met responded in line for our plans for a marauding terrorist attack. it included uniform and specialist firearms officers. we now have an ongoing operation and whilst we currently believe there was only one attacker, i am sure the public will understand as taking every precaution in locking down and searching the area as thoroughly as possible. there is no identification yet

of those involved, but the police are saying they are treating the attack as a terrorist incident. but who did this and how did they manage to get so close? the security services say that 13 attacks have been stopped since 2013. mis attacks have been stopped since 2013. mi5 and the attacks have been stopped since 2013. m15 and the police have certainly improved their ability to detect those behind the plots. but we have also seen those planning attacks switch to less sophisticated techniques which can be harderfor the intelligence agencies to spot. a year ago exactly saw an attack on brussels airport on the metro. that was more sophisticated than what we saw in westminster today, including the use of explosives. last weekend, paris's 0rly airport showed hasn't ends loan individuals are now moving

to more low—tech means. a man grabbed a gun from a soldier but was shot. recent attacks in berlin and nice showed the damage a vehicle can do to innocent people on the streets, as happens in westminster. that is almost impossible to prevent unless you can identify the attacker beforehand. in many recent cases they have been inspired by so—called islamic state but may not be in direct contact with the group, making it harder to find them. in recent years security around parliament has been upgraded after intruders managed to get inside. cameras, ballard ‘s, x—ray scanners are all in place. but today an attacker managed to breach the initial perimeter, although police seem to have dealt with him quickly after he got in. there may be questions over how that happened but the priority for now will be identifying those behind the attack, understanding their connections and

working out of the threat has really passed. an update on the development of the last 20 minutes or so, british prime minister theresa may has spoken outside of downing street following an emergency meeting of ministers, the cobra meeting chaired by herself. speaking outside of downing street she condemned what she called a sick and depraved attack and praised the bravery of the police. she insisted that britain and its values would never give in to terror. we are expecting to have a briefing within the next 15 to 20 minutes from scotland yard to update us on the investigation which is now continuing, a murder investigation following the death of four people. 20 injured and we understand at this hour that 12 remain in critical condition. more to come on this bbc news special live from westminster and here in london. stay with us.

you're watching bbc news with this special on the westminster terror attack. we will bring you the very latest as we hear that scotland yard due to make a press briefing, we will bring that to you live on bbc world news. of course we have heard very much from what people have been saying, eyewitnesses, what happens here on wednesday afternoon. 0ne saying, eyewitnesses, what happens here on wednesday afternoon. one of them was quentin letts, a political sketch writer for the daily mail newspaper. he saw the attack unfold from his parliamentary office. i work in an office which overlooks the palace yard just below big ben and i have a desk by the window. we heard the sound of a car crash and we went to the window to see what was happening. many members of the public were running down the pavement. some of them screaming and shouting. and then we saw a thick set man in black clothes come through the gates where people

would normally drive cars into new palace yard, which isjust below big ben. and this man had something in his hand, like a stick of some sort. he was challenged by a couple of policemen in yellowjackets and one of them fell down. and we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way which suggested he was either stabbing or striking the yellow jacketed policeman. one of the policemen then ran to get help which was very quick to come. as this attacker was running towards the entrance used by mps to go into the house of commons, as he was running, he ran about, i would say 15 yards... two plainclothes guys with guns shouted at him, a warning, he ignored it,

and they shot 2—3 times and he fell. and that's what we saw. this story is getting a lot of international attention. white house press secretary spoke earlier about the incident. the president has been briefed on the situation in london, you just spoke to prime minister may and will have a readout on that situation and that call soon. we obviously content of a's attack in westminster, which the united kingdom is treating as an attack of terrorism, and we applaud the quick response police and the quick demographics responders made to the situation. the victims are in our thoughts and our prayers, the city of london and her majesty's

government have the full support of the us government in responding to the us government in responding to the attack in bringing justice to those responsible. within the last minute we have heard from the australian prime minister malcolm turnbull, who has said the terror incident in westminster is an attack on parliament, freedom and democracy everywhere. he added that almost every element of our parliamentary tradition in australia is modelled on the houses of parliament in london. he also being raised in canberra as a result of the attack, adding that australia is very alert to the vulnerability of places of mass gatherings and the risk of lone attackers. scottish first minister nicola sturgeon has spoken the last few minutes, offering condolences to those caught up in what she called an horrific incident in westminster. we will have more on this to come with an update as soon as we get it on the news that four people have lost their lives and buttons they

afternoon at that shooting in westminster. more to come but i will pass you over to ben brown with the latest in westminster. i'm ben brown, live at westminster. terrorism in the heart of westminster: a vehicle and knife attack has left three people, including a police officer and the attacker, dead. there was a body on the other side of the road and i looked further up there was another body. 0ne looked over the side of the bridge they appeared to be a body in the water. eyewitnesses say a car mowed down pedestrians on westminster bridge before crashing into railings outside parliament. at least two people who were hit have died, at least 20 others have been injured. the attacker was shot and apprehended by police, he is among the dead.