Man held by police and number of people injured following London Bridge stabbing

LONDON, 29 Nov. - (ANA) - A man has been detained by police and a number of people have been injured following a stabbing near London Bridge.

Station staff at Monument claimed five people have been injured in the knife attack.

The incident is being responded to "as though it is terror-related", the Metropolitan Police said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "I'm being kept updated on the incident at London Bridge and want to thank the police and all emergency services for their immediate response."

He said: "Very concerned by ongoing incident at London Bridge. My thoughts are with all affected. I am grateful for the rapid response of our police and I urge everyone to follow their advice."

BBC correspondent John McManus told BBC News that he had heard several gun shots on London Bridge.

"I was walking across London Bridge on the south bank to the north bank of the bridge," he said.

"There appeared to be a fight going on on the other side of the bridge, with several men attacking one man."

Various social media users have reported hearing gunshots from London Bridge.

One video shows what appears to be police pulling equipment out of a vehicle nearby.

Those in the video can be heard saying: "They've actually got guns out. They've got the guns out."

Political commentator Owen Jones tweeted: "I'm near London Bridge, looks like a bad incident – people running, police yelling 'keep moving', lots of emergency services, area cordoned off. Stay safe everyone."

Footage posted from inside a passing bus showed armed police pointing guns at a person who appeared to be lying still on the pavement.

The video was posted by Twitter user Amanda Hunter, who wrote: "Someone just shot on London Bridge."

Onlooker Zack Shooter told the PA news agency police almost knocked him over as they ran towards the incident.

"Then loads of cars with sirens all rushed past me at full speed," he added.

Kelby McNally, OK! Online's editor, works in the Northern and Shell Building on Lower Thames Street near to London Bridge.

She said: "I was coming out of Pret on Eastcheap and there were loads of people just running, I thought it was a fire alarm or something, and then I saw two girls from my office who told me not to go back there. I asked what had happened, and they said they had heard gunshots and now everyone is running.

"City of London police officers and paramedics told us, 'You need to go that way, do not go near London Bridge, run that way'.

"Everyone was running, so then we came to where the Sky Garden building is and the security guards let everyone in. We're sat in the foyer of this building, and everyone is running outside. Now everyone is being let out of this building but they're saying you cannot walk back towards London Bridge, go towards Liverpool Street."

Witness Amanda Hunter, who was on a bus across the bridge when she heard shots fired, told BBC News: "(The bus) all of a sudden stopped and there was commotion and looked out the window and I just saw these three police officers going over to a man.

"It seemed like there was something in his hand, I'm not 100% sure, but then one of the police officers shot him.

"We were stopped on a bus for only a minute or a minute-and-a-half, and then we were able to safely get off the bridge."

"There are more police coming into the area as I'm speaking, they're telling people to clear, to move back," Mr McManus continued.

"We've been moved back hundreds of metres back from the northern side of the bridge, and I can only assume the same has happened on the southern side of the bridge as well."

The BBC correspondent said he could see a man lying on the ground but the situation was "ongoing".

"There appeared to be a fight going on on the bridge, from what I could see, several people tried to restrain a man and it was then that armed police arrived and they fired shots at this person," he said.

"The last I could see before we were moving from the bridge was lying on the ground.

"Since then, since we've been moved back, I've heard several more shots fired as well. So at this moment it seems to be a developing situation."  - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/29 November 2019 - - -