LONDON - Police shot dead a man in south London on Sunday after two people were stabbed in what police described as a terrorism-related incident.
Armed officers shot the man in Streatham, a busy residential district south of the River Thames.
"The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related," the police said on Twitter.
Police said later the man they had shot had been pronounced dead, and two people had been wounded.
"We await updates on their condition," police said, adding the scene of the incident was now fully contained.
Karker Tahir, a man who was working nearby, told Sky News that the man was shot three times. Police had told people in the area to leave because the man had a bomb in his bag, Tahir said.
A Western security source said the incident was related to Islamist militancy.
Armed police cordoned off the area and said people should avoid the area.
Several videos of the scene were posted on Twitter, but not verified by Reuters. In one, filmed from inside a shop across the road, a man can be seen lying on the street while at least two armed police officers point their guns from behind an unmarked car with its blue lights flashing.
At least one helicopter flew overhead and police cars were in surrounding streets, with the area blocked off by tape.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter: "Thank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham, which the police have now declared as terrorism-related".
"My thoughts are with the injured and all those affected," he added.
The last such incident in London was in November, when police shot dead a man wearing a fake suicide vest who stabbed two people to death and wounded three more before being wrestled to the ground by bystanders.
That attack was carried out by a man with Islamist militant sympathies. He had been jailed for terrorism and released early.
London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, said in a statement after Sunday's incident: "Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life - here in London we will never let them succeed."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper Writing by Peter Graff and Frances Kerry Editing by David Goodman and Angus MacSwan)
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PARIS—A knife-wielding man ran amok Friday in a park south of Paris, killing a man walking with his wife and wounding 2 other people before being shot dead by police, officials said.
The Paris police department said the man, identified as 22-year-old Nathan C., attacked "several people" around lunchtime in the suburb of Villejuif.
Some managed to evade him but the man claimed at least one life -- that of a 56-year-old Villejuif resident, according to the town's mayor Franck Le Bohellec.
The victim "was walking with his wife when the attacker approached; he wanted to protect his wife" and was stabbed, the mayor explained.
According to a source close to the inquiry, another man was seriously wounded and a woman sustained light injuries.
The assailant then fled to the neighboring suburb of Hay-les-Roses, where he was shot dead by police.
A picture sent to AFP showed a man in a long black garment lying on his back at an intersection.
"We heard screams, then we heard 3 shots," said Rouane Yazid, 40, the owner of a garage nearby.
"I went outside to see. Then there were 5 or 6 more shots and then sirens. We barricaded ourselves in the garage," he told AFP.
HIGH ALERT
Several sources said Nathan C. suffered from "psychological problems."
He was not being tracked as a religious zealot, although "elements linked to religion" that "suggested he had converted to Islam," were found among his personal effects, the local prosecutor's office said.
The police have opened an investigation of murder and attempted murder.
The attack came just 4 days before France marks the fifth anniversary of the killing of 12 people at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris by 2 brothers vowing allegiance to Al-Qaeda.
President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for the victims and said in a statement: "We continue to fight determinedly against senseless violence."
France remains on high alert after being hit by a string of attacks by jihadist extremists since 2015, with more than 250 people killed in total.
The day after the Charlie Hebdo attack, a man linked to the Islamic State (IS) group shot and killed a policewoman in a southern Paris suburb before taking hostages at a Jewish supermarket the following day, killing 4 more people.
Police eventually killed all 3 attackers but it was the beginning of the wave of strikes on French territory.
The deadliest came in November 2013, when 130 people died in bombings and shootings at Paris's Bataclan concert hall, several bars and restaurants, and the Stade de France sports stadium.
Interior ministry figures indicate that 60 attacks have been thwarted since 2013, the latest in September.
France's anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard was at the scene of Friday's attack, but the investigation remained initially under the authority of the Creteil prosecutor's office.
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands—Three people were wounded in a stabbing in one of the main shopping streets in The Hague as people hunted bargains on Black Friday, police said.
Police said they were still hunting a male suspect following the attack, which happened in a department store in the center of the city.
Dutch media played down speculation about a terror motive but said police were still keeping an open mind about the incident, which came hours after 2 people were stabbed to death in a terror-related attack in London.
"We are currently taking all scenarios into account," a Dutch police spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the ANP news agency.
The stabbing happened at the Hudson's Bay department store in Grote Marktstraat, the biggest shopping area in The Hague, which is lined with major retailers and brands.
"We are conducting extensive investigations into the stab incident... Due to the complexity, this takes time," they added.
"We are still looking for the perpetrator."
Police said they were looking for a "slightly dark-skinned man" with curly hair aged between 40 and 50 wearing a black top, scarf and grey jogging bottoms.
Social media images showed shoppers running in panic away from the scene, on a nighttime shopping street lit by Christmas fairy lights.
EMERGENCY VEHICLES
Members of the public gathered behind a police cordon on the street, where shoppers had earlier been looking for bargains on Black Friday, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Police helicopters flew overhead and several emergency vehicles were on site, the correspondent said.
The stabbing was also not far from parliament in The Hague, which is the seat of government for the Netherlands and home to many international organizations.
The US embassy warned its nationals in The Hague to avoid the area because of "reports of a security incident" and told them to let loved ones know they were safe.
In the UK incident, 2 members of the public were killed in a stabbing on London Bridge in the heart of the capital. The suspected attacker was then tackled by passers-by and shot dead by police.
The Netherlands has seen a series of terror attacks and plots, although not so far on the scale of those in other European countries.
In March, 4 people were killed when a Turkish-born man opened fire on a tram in the city of Utrecht.
Dutch police on Monday arrested 2 suspected jihadists, one of them in The Hague, and charged them with planning a terror attack using suicide and car bombs.
Earlier this month, a Pakistani man was sentenced to 10 years in jail for a plot to kill far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
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LONDON—A man wearing a suspected hoax explosive device was shot dead by armed officers on London Bridge on Friday after what police said was a terrorist stabbing spree, reviving memories of another horrific attack 2 years ago that killed 8.
Footage on Twitter filmed by eyewitnesses showed a scrum of people tackling a man on the ground before specialist armed officers arrived and shot him dead as he tried to get up.
It is not known how many people were injured in the stabbing spree before the shooting but London Mayor Sadiq Khan said several people were "seriously" hurt.
Khan said members of the public risked their own safety to try to disarm the suspect. "They are the best of us," he told reporters.
The events came less than 2 weeks before an election at which Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to win a majority to enable him to take Britain out of the European Union.
The prime minister cut short a visit to his constituency in northwest London to return to his Downing Street office for a briefing by the police.
'Enough is enough,' PM May says after London attackers kill 7
Both Johnson's Conservatives and the main opposition Labour party have both pledged to put at least 20,000 more officers on the streets.
But Britain's impending Brexit has raised questions about the extent of continued cooperation with Europe on security and intelligence matters.
New European Council President Charles Michel said he had been "very saddened to hear the dramatic reports" from London, adding: "The fight against terrorism is a common fight."
Johnson praised the emergency services for their response, adding: "This country will never be cowed or divided or intimidated by this sort of attack.
"Our values, our British values will prevail."
MOTIVE UNKNOWN
The attack happened on so-called "Black Friday," one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the run-up to Christmas, bringing more shoppers onto the streets.
The Metropolitan Police said it was called at 1:58 pm (9:58 p.m. Manila time) to a stabbing near the bridge, which links The City financial district to the south bank of the River Thames.
"A male suspect was shot by specialist armed officers," Neil Basu, the head of UK counter-terrorism policing, told reporters outside New Scotland Yard police headquarters.
"This suspect died at the scene. It has been declared a terrorist incident. We retain an open mind as to any motive.
"We believe a device that was strapped to the body of the suspect was a hoax explosive device."
Several people were seen in video footage apparently surrounding the man on the ground.
One man, wearing a suit and tie, was seen retreating from the scene, with what appeared to be a large knife in his right hand.
Three armed officers then appeared on the scene and surrounded the scrum. One officer pulled a man away before 2 shots appeared to be fired.
An eyewitness told reporters: "He was on the ground with a knife near him, and a bag near him and then they surrounded him and armed police shot him."
Another told the BBC she and other people in the area rushed into a nearby restaurant and were told by staff to take cover under tables.
The bridge was closed off, with evacuated buses at a standstill, and a white truck straddling the carriageways. Forensics officers were at the scene.
Johnson thanked the police and all emergency services "for their immediate response."
A White House spokesman said US President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and was monitoring the situation.
Trump, who has previously criticized Mayor Khan and stabbings in the British capital, is due to visit next week for a NATO summit.
THREAT LEVEL DOWNGRADED
Britain downgraded its terrorism threat level from "severe," the second-highest of 5 levels, to "substantial" on Nov. 4, its lowest rating in more than 5 years.
British officials consider a terrorist attack "likely" when the threat level is substantial, and "highly likely" when it is severe.
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, an organization made up of government departments and other public bodies, makes the decision after weighing up intelligence and information on known terror groups.
The 2017 attack involved Islamist extremists in a van who ploughed into pedestrians on London Bridge before attacking people at random with knives in nearby Borough Market.
Eight people were killed and 48 others injured. The 3 attackers, who were wearing fake suicide devices, were shot dead by police.
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KAWASAKI -- A mass stabbing rampage outside of Tokyo on Tuesday killed a schoolgirl, and the suspected attacker was also dead after turning his knife on himself, according to local media.
The attack, in the town of Kawasaki, south of the Japanese capital, also injured 17 people, local emergency officials told AFP.
The rampage was a rare attack in a country with one of the lowest rates of violent crime in the developed world and there was no immediate detail on the motive of the knifeman.
It came as Donald Trump wraps up a state visit to Japan, and the US president offered his "prayers and sympathy" to the victims as he met troops outside Tokyo.
Standing aboard a Japanese military ship, he said that "all Americans stand with the people of Japan and grieve for the victims and for their families".
The attack occurred during the busy early morning commute as workers headed to their offices and children to school in Kawasaki.
Local media said the attack killed a schoolgirl and that the suspected attacker, who was taken into custody by police, had died after stabbing himself.
"One man and one female child are showing no vital signs," fire department official Yuji Sekizawa had earlier told AFP, employing a phrase commonly used in Japan to mean the victims have died but the death has not yet been certified by an official medical professional.
The fire department said children were also among the 17 others injured.
The scene of the attack was swarming with emergency personnel, including police who had parked three police vans around the site to block it from view.
A white school bus with blue stripes could be seen parked, however, with the name "Caritas Gakuen (school)" written on the side, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.
Emergency workers had also set up an orange medical tent to treat the wounded, and ambulances and fire engines were parked nearby.
An official at a local hospital said it had received five people wounded in the attack and that four of them had suffered serious injuries.
Among them were a woman, a man and "three girls who are all six years old".
Police earlier told AFP one suspect had been detained and an eyewitness told local media that the man had stabbed himself.
"I saw a man holding a knife... I couldn't see clearly, but he apparently stabbed himself in the neck," one eyewitness told NHK.
The broadcaster said 2 knives were spotted at the scene, but there was no immediate confirmation from officials.
'SCARY TO SEE'
How the attack unfolded was not immediately clear, with some initial reports saying it occurred in a park, but subsequent accounts describing it as taking place at a nearby bus stop.
"I heard the sound of lots of ambulances and I saw a man lying near a bus stop bleeding," a male eyewitness, who was not identified, told NHK.
"There is another bus stop near the elementary school and I also saw elementary schoolchildren lying on the ground... It's a quiet neighbourhood, it's scary to see this kind of thing happen."
"It is a very harrowing incident," government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters, referring all further questions on the attack to police.
Violent crime is extremely rare in Japan, and children often travel to and from schools alone, but there have been a few high-profile attacks.
In 2018, a man was arrested in central Japan after stabbing one person to death and injuring two others aboard a bullet train, an attack that prompted new security measures on the famed rail service.
And in 2016, a man stabbed 19 people to death in a disability center south of Tokyo in what he described as a mission to rid the world of people with mental illness.
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MANCHESTER - A British police probe into a triple stabbing at a Manchester railway station on New Year's Eve which injured 3 people is now being treated as "a terrorist investigation", the city's top officer said on Tuesday.
Counter-terrorism police have arrested a 25-year-old man who remains in custody, and are searching an address where he recently lived in the northwestern English city, Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said.
The suspect reportedly shouted "Allah" during what Hopkins called a "horrific attack" on three people, including a police officer, at Manchester Victoria station on Monday evening.
A man and a woman, both in their 50s, are still being treated in hospital after sustaining "serious" injuries, while the officer was stabbed in the shoulder, Hopkins added.
"We are treating this as a terrorist investigation which is being led by counter-terrorism officers with support from Greater Manchester police," he told a briefing.
"They were working through the night to piece together the details of what happened and to identify the man who was arrested."
Hopkins said counter-terrorism officers were searching an address near the city center "which is believed to be where the man had most recently been living".
Prime Minister Theresa May thanked emergency services for their "courageous response" in swiftly tackling the suspect.
She wrote on Twitter: "My thoughts are with those who were injured in the suspected terrorist attack in Manchester last night."
'PURE FEAR'
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened at around 8:50 pm when many revelers in the city would have been enjoying New Year's Eve celebrations.
Witness Sam Clack, 38, a BBC radio producer, said the suspect shouted "Allah" before and during the attack.
He also quoted the perpetrator as saying: "As long as you keep bombing other countries, this sort of shit is going to keep happening."
The witness added he heard the "most blood-curdling scream" and looked down the platform to see the attack unfolding.
"He came towards me," he added. "I looked down and saw he had a kitchen knife with a black handle with a good 12 inch (30-centimeter) blade.
"It was just fear, pure fear."
Clack said police used a stun gun and pepper spray before "six or seven" officers jumped on the man.
Video footage of the incident shows him being overpowered by the officers.
The police said he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and officers had recovered two knives from the scene.
The woman suffered injuries to her face and abdomen and the man was wounded in the abdomen, while a British Transport Police officer sustained a stab wound to the shoulder.
Their injuries were described as serious but not life-threatening.
'DREADFUL'
The city's New Year celebrations went ahead in Albert Square despite the incident, with a firework display taking place as planned, though increased security was brought in.
British Transport Police said Tuesday its officers would be "highly visible through the national rail network".
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham paid tribute to the emergency services' response.
He added the "vile attack" had "all the hallmarks... of an isolated incident".
Manchester police Assistant Chief Constable Russ Jackson said they were still trying to establish whether the suspect is a British national and how he came to be at the station.
"We are obviously considering his mental health given how frenzied the attack was, its random nature," he added.
"There is wide reporting... about what the attacker allegedly said during the incident.
"However it's really important to stress we are retaining an open mind in relation to the motivation for this attack."
Police said investigators were considering its closeness to the Manchester Arena, where a suicide bomber struck in May 2017, as potentially significant.
The attack at a concert by the US singer Ariana Grande killed 22 people and wounded 139.
The perpetrator, Salman Abedi, 22, was born and raised in Manchester.
"That the incident happened so close to the scene of the terrorist attack on May 22, 2017 makes it even more dreadful," chief constable Hopkins said.
"Our work will continue to ensure we get to the full facts of what happened and why it took place."
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MELBOURNE - One person was killed and two others were injured in a rush hour stabbing rampage in downtown Melbourne Friday, that saw police shoot a knife-wielding suspect near a burning vehicle.
Police said officers "initially responded to a report of a car on fire" in the city center at 4:20 pm local time, but discovered at the scene that members of the public had been stabbed.
Media showed video footage of police then trying to restrain a large man in a dark tunic who was lunging, slashing and stabbing wildly at two officers as a pick-up truck burned nearby.
The officers were seen trying for at least a minute to detain the man peaceably as his attacks on them continued, before one office shot him with a weapon.
"A man was arrested at the scene and has been taken to hospital under police guard in a critical condition," police Superintendent David Clayton said.
He said another person died at the scene and two others are still being treated.
"There is no known link to terrorism at this stage," Clayton said. "We will keep an open mind as to whether there is any link. It's very early stage of the investigation."
Police warned people to avoid the area and dispatched the bomb squad to secure the area and examine the burning car.
Officers said they "are not looking for anyone further at this early stage."
"The exact circumstances are yet to be determined at this stage. The area has been cordoned off," police said.
"Anyone with information or who witnessed the incident is asked to go to Melbourne West Police Station to make a statement. We will provide further information when it comes to hand"
The apparent attack came as a 28-year-old James Gargasoulas underwent trial in Melbourne for driving into a crowd in the same area in 2017, killing six people.
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LONDON—Police said two people had been stabbed in an ongoing incident in central London on Friday, with armed officers on the scene at Sony Music UK's head office in Kensington.
London's Metropolitan Police said they were called to the incident at Derry Street where Sony's offices are based at about 1100 GMT. They said one person had been arrested and it was not being treated as terrorism.
"Officers, including firearms officers, and London Ambulance Service are in attendance," police said. "Evacuations are in place as precaution. Two people have suffered stab injuries – we await an update on their condition."
Pictures on social media showed large numbers of police vehicles at the scene. Business journalist Simon Neville wrote on Twitter that he saw a man wearing a red jacket being tackled to the ground in a loading bay on Derry Street.
"Security seemed to have him under control and closed the loading bay shutters once tackled," he wrote.
No one from Sony was immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
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NEW YORK - A female worker stabbed three babies, two of whom are less than a month old, at a home-based daycare center in New York City on Friday before slashing her own wrists and being taken into custody, police said.
The unidentified woman, age 52, who also stabbed two adults in the predawn incident in the borough of Queens, was in stable condition, Juanita Holmes, assistant chief of patrol for the New York City Police Department, said at a news conference.
Police did not have any details on a possible motive.
Of the babies stabbed, there were two girls and one boy, police said. All three were hospitalized and listed in serious but stable condition. Prosecutors said they were aged 13 days, 22 days and 33 days.
The woman also stabbed a 31-year-old man, believed to be the father of one of the children, and a woman at the overnight nursery in Flushing, known as Mei Xin Care. A bloody kitchen knife and meat cleaver were found at the scene, police said.
Prosecutors said the woman who was stabbed is 63. Police earlier described both adult victims as being in their 30s.
"We pray that all of the victims will be fine and will survive these injuries. We are hoping these young babies - small and so very fragile - are also strong enough to overcome this horrible act of senseless violence," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.
Police said nine children and several parents were at the private home when the attack occurred.
Both of the adults who were stabbed live at the home, a police spokesman said, adding that the assailant worked at the nursery but did not live there.
Brown said the alleged attacker was in custody at a nearby hospital undergoing a psychiatric evaluation as well as treatment for what appeared to be self-inflicted wounds.
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AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Dutch police were investigating Saturday a suspected terror attack at Amsterdam's Central Station, in which two people were stabbed before the knifeman was shot by police.
The assailant was identified as a 19-year-old Afghan man with a German residency permit.
"We are seriously taking into account that there was a terrorist motive," Amsterdam police spokesman Frans Zuiderhoek told AFP.
Earlier witnesses described scenes of panic as gunshots rang out and thousands of commuters and tourists were evacuated from the rail terminus shortly after midday.
"A man in the west side tunnel of Amsterdam Central Station stabbed two other people and directly after that he was shot by the police," another police spokesman Rob van der Veen said, adding terrorism was not being ruled out by investigators.
"The two people are very badly injured, and they were brought to the hospital," he said.
"We are looking at all scenarios, also the worst scenario, which is terrorism."
One witness said he saw a young man "stumble" into his flower shop at the station with a bleeding wound to his hand.
"Shortly afterwards I heard some shots and I know something has gone badly wrong," Richard Snelders told the ANP news agency. A while later he saw another man lying on the ground nearby, he said.
"The first thing that comes up in your mind is that it's a terror attack. After all, you are at Amsterdam Central Station. There was a lot of panic," Snelders said.
- 'Stay down' –
Police quickly arrived at the scene with video images showing police ordering the suspect in English to "stay down" after he had been shot.
Images posted on social media showed security guards ushering passengers towards exits and paramedics arriving at the scene with stretchers.
Police spokesman Zuiderhoek said the knifeman's condition was not life-threatening, but that he had been shot in the lower body.
"At this moment he is under police custody in hospital. He is being questioned about his motive," Zuiderhoek added.
Dutch police were also in close contact with their German counterparts in regards to the suspect's background, he added.
Two platforms at the station -- located in the Dutch capital's historic canal-ringed city center -- had been evacuated and closed off to passengers, police said, and were reopened for rail traffic two hours later.
A special police department opened a routine probe into why police shot the man.
The Netherlands has so far been spared from the slew of terror attacks which have rocked its closest European neighbors in the past few years.
But amid a number of scares and reports that people linked to some of those attacks may have crossed briefly into the country, top Dutch security and intelligence officials have stressed that the threat level is substantial.
Police declined to speculate on the reasons for Friday's incident, but the Afghan Taliban in a statement Thursday called for attacks on Dutch troops following plans by Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders to stage a Prophet Mohammed cartoon competition in the Dutch parliament.
Wilders, who received several death threats has since cancelled the competition which has angered Muslims and sparked protests, saying he wanted to "avoid the risk of making people victims of Islamist violence".
Around 250,000 people travel through Central Station every day, according to statistics provided by the Amsterdam.info travel guide.
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