Four dead in London vehicle and knife attack; 20 hurt.

[tenorly]

A knife-wielding man went on a deadly rampage at the heart of Britain's seat of power Wednesday, mowing down pedestrians on London's Westminster Bridge before stabbing an armed police officer to death inside the gates of Parliament.

Four people were killed, including the attacker, and about 20 others were injured.

Lawmakers, lords, staff and visitors were locked down as the man was shot by police within the perimeter of Parliament and just yards from entrances to the building itself. He died, as did two pedestrians on the bridge, and the police officer.

Police said they were treating the attacks as a terrorist incident and had launched a full counterterrorism investigation. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"We are satisfied at this stage that it looks like there was only one attacker," said Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley. "But it would be foolish to be overconfident early on."

The threat level for international terrorism in the United Kingdom was already listed at severe, meaning an attack is "highly likely."

Wednesday was the anniversary of suicide bombings in the Brussels airport and subway that killed 32 people, and the latest events echoed recent vehicle attacks in Berlin and Nice, France.

At: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-british-parliament-attack-20170322-story.html

[Denzil_DC]

1. Thoughts obviously go out to those injured and the familes of the dead.

But ...

Here's The Misinformation Spreading About The London Attack

...

1. Britain's Channel 4 reported that a man named Abu Izzadeen is the suspect in the attack, but he was jailed a year ago. Sources confirmed to BuzzFeed News that Izzadeen is still in prison. The network has since retracted their claim.

...

2. Russian media outlets are spreading a false picture of the suspect during a live broadcast and on Facebook.

...

3. One tweet of a screenshot from Al Jazeera's live Facebook coverage said "the Muslim world" is laughing at the London attack.

...

4. An interview with Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, in which he said terrorist attacks are "part and parcel" of life in big cities, has been taken out of context.

...

https://www.buzzfeed.com/janelytvynenko/heres-the-misinformation-spreading-about-the-london-attack

Disturbed and deranged people sometimes do horrible things. It takes more than that to amount to terrorism.

[tenorly]

2. Hmm.

Shades of 2005?

[Denzil_DC]

3. 2005?

Last edited Wed Mar 22, 2017, 06:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Not sure what you're referring to.

There were the London bombings ("7/7&quot , and the aftermath was predictable chaos on the media (initial reports of a "power surge" on the tube, reports of six bombings rather than the three there actually were, "suspicious packages" were destroyed in 7 other cities, and a provably false fake video claiming that Al Qaeda claimed responsibility circulated, etc. etc.).

That one left 60 dead (including the attackers).

Is that what you mean?

[Matilda]

4. If this was a terrorist attack,

then the terrorists have lost their touch.

Think Charlie Hebdo, Brussels, London Underground, 9/11 - those were terrorist attacks.

This looks more like a lone nutter, and shouldn't be inflated beyond what it is, awful though that may be. If governments keep doing this, it may keep people scared and easier to control, but when there's a real terrorist attack, there's a risk nobody will believe it.

[Denzil_DC]

5. Those are my precise thoughts at the moment.

It's horrible for those caught up in it, but it doesn't so far show any evidence of serious planning.