London attack as it happened: Five dead and 40 injured after terror incident in Westminster

Westminster terror attack: Timeline of events

A police officer has been stabbed and an alleged assailant shot by armed police outside the Houses of Parliament.

Here's what we know so far:

• Police officer died after being stabbed outside Parliament
• Two people reported dead after a car ploughed into crowd on Westminster bridge causing multiple casualties
• Metropolitan police are treating this as a terrorist incident
• Eyewitness account of the stabbing incident outside Parliament gate
• Donald Trump has been briefed on the attack, Sean Spicer confirms
• Theresa May was '40 yards away' from scene of stabbing, was immediately evacuated and confirmed safe
• House of Commons session suspended and MPs evacuated

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Commons Leader David Lidington has told MPs a "police officer has been stabbed" and the "alleged assailant was shot by armed police" following a "serious" incident within the parliamentary estate.

Minutes later, an emergency services helicopter landed in Parliament Square, as sirens were heard outside.

Iframe:

Air ambulance medics came from the helicopter to assist the casualties.

A woman was confirmed dead after a car ploughed into corwds on Westminster Bridge causing multiple casualties (Reuters)

Two people lay on the ground in the yard. One of them appeared to have had clothes removed as emergency workers attempted to resuscitate the pair.

Parliament Square was closed to traffic.

[22 March 2017 16:23 · Sarah Champion MP]

Very moving that Welsh Assembly & Scottish Parliament are suspending in solidarity with us following the attack. Means a lot x

[22 March 2017 16:23 · Andrew Griffin]

Counter-terror police are making a full sweep of parliament, reports The Independent's Jon Sharman.

[22 March 2017 16:24 · Andrew Griffin]

Gibraltar's chief minister Fabian Picardo said: "Shocked at attack on London. Yesterday I spent the day at Westminster. Luckily not today."London's Parliament is the mother of democracy!"

[22 March 2017 16:25 · Hersio]

20 minutos después sigo aquí subido en el London Eye, vaya movida macho. http://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7iIXZjW0AEAMCu.jpg

[22 March 2017 16:26 · Andrew Griffin]

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: "Horrible images from London. The very heart of the city has been struck. "Our thoughts are with the British people."

[22 March 2017 16:27 · Andrew Griffin]

Speaking to reporters outside the central London hospital, junior doctor Colleen Anderson from St Thomas' Hospital said a female pedestrian had died.She also said she treated a police officer in his 30s with a head injury who had been taken to King's College Hospital.She said: "I confirmed one fatality. A woman. She was under the wheel of a bus."She died, confirmed her death at the scene."Ms Anderson said: "There were people across the bridge. There were some with minor injuries, some catastrophic."Some had injuries they could walk away from or who have life-changing injuries."There were maybe a dozen (injured)."

[22 March 2017 16:28 · The Independent]

We're live in Westminster after a 'terror incident' in the House of Commons bit.ly/2nJHhNm

[22 March 2017 16:29 · Andrew Griffin]

Poland's former foreign minister, Radek Sikorski, says he was in a taxi leaving Westminster and was checking his email when he heard something like a car crash, "something like a car hitting metal sheet." "I look up and I see that a person is lying on the pavement. I started my camera and I saw more people lying on the street and on the pavement," Sikorski said on Poland's TVN24. "People started running up to them. I saw one person who gave no sign of life, another man was bleeding from his head. In all, I saw five people who were at least seriously injured," he said. "The taxi driver immediately called the emergency number. I heard ambulances within two or three minutes, so the rescue action was really very quick. There is a hospital near there." "It all happened so fast that there was no time to get scared," said Sikorski who posted his video on Twitter.

[22 March 2017 16:30 · Andrew Griffin]

The Independent's Jon Stone is live on Facebook from near the scene: www.facebook.com

[22 March 2017 16:31 · Andrew Griffin]

It's exactly a year since the suicide bomb attacks on the Brussels airport and underground system, which killed 32 people.More than 300 people were wounded in the attacks, which were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.The suicide bombings were Belgium's worst terror attacks.A year on, Belgium is still on a high state of alert, with soldiers patrolling the streets.