Several stabbed near London Bridge; man detained

(KYMA, KSWT, KECY)- British police cleared the area around London Bridge in the center of the British capital on Friday following a stabbing and shooting incident that left several people wounded.

Police said one man had been detained, and witnesses reported seeing a man shot by armed officers.

The Metropolitan Police force said officers were called just before 2 p.m. Friday “to a stabbing at premises near to London Bridge.”

They said a man was detained and “a number of people have been injured.” London Ambulance Service said it had crews on the scene.

Witnesses reported seeing what appeared to be fighting on the bridge and hearing several gunshots. Sky News reported that police had shot the apparent attacker.

Amanda Hunter said she was on a bus crossing the bridge when she heard shots.

″(The bus) all of a sudden stopped and there was commotion and I looked out the window and I just saw these three police officers going over to a man,” she told the BBC.

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

BBC reporter John McManus was in the area and said he saw figures grappling on the bridge. He said: “I thought it was initially a fight,” but then shots rang out.

One video posted on social media showed two men struggling on the bridge before police pulled a man in civilian clothes off a black-clad man on the ground.

Other images showed police, guns drawn pointing at a figure on the ground in the distance.

Scores of police descended on the area and ushered people away from the bridge, which links the city’s business district with the south bank of the River Thames.

Cars and buses on the busy bride were at a standstill, with a white truck stopped diagonally across the lanes. Video footage showed police pointing guns at the truck before moving to check its container.

British Transport Police said London Bridge station, one of the city’s busiest rail hubs, was closed and trains were not stopping there.

City of London Police, the force responsible for the business district, urged people to stay away from the area.

London Bridge was the scene of a June 2017 attack when Islamic State-inspired attackers ran down people on the bridge, killing two, before stabbing several people to death in nearby Borough Market.

In March 2017, an attacker fatally struck four people with a car on nearby Westminster Bridge then fatally stabbed a police officer before security forces shot and killed him in a courtyard outside Parliament.