LONDON _ At least one person was killed and as many as 10 injured in what London's Metropolitan Police are treating as a suspected "terrorist incident" in the heart of the British capital on Wednesday.
Early reports were confusing, but witnesses outside Britain's Parliament reported hearing a commotion, shouting and the sound of gunfire. The assailant appears to have plowed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge as he drove up to the Houses of Parliament and crashed into the security railings, witnesses said.
The suspect was reportedly clad in black and seen wielding an object in his hand when he attacked at least one police officer in an area where the public are not allowed.
A doctor at nearby St Thomas' Hospital told the Press Association that one woman died and a number of other people were hurt, some with "catastrophic injuries."
Ambulance personnel treated at least 10 patients on the bridge and put a number of hospitals on alert, said Pauline Cranmer, deputy director of the London Ambulance Service. It was not immediately clear whether they included the woman who died.
House of Commons Leader David Lidington described the situation to members of Parliament.
"There has been a serious incident within the estate," the conservative politician said. "It seems that a police officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant has been shot by police. There are also reports of further violent incidents within the vicinity of the palace of Westminster."
Staff and lawmakers in the area were told to stay inside their offices and a session of the House of Commons was suspended.
Witnesses who were on Westminster Bridge described a car striking as many as a dozen pedestrians. Photos showed a car that had driven into the bridge's railings.
The Metropolitan Police reported the apparent attack on Twitter, and said "We are treating this as a terrorist incident until we know otherwise." There were no reports of anyone being shot on the bridge, however.
One witness, identified as former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, told the BBC he was driving along Westminster Bridge in a taxi at the time.
"I didn't see the car, but I heard what I thought was just a collision," he said. "Then I looked through the window of the taxi and I saw someone down, obviously in great distress. Then I saw a second person down. Then I saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely."
In Washington, President Donald Trump was briefed on the incident, according to a U.S. official familiar with the briefing. Trump was 24 minutes late for a meeting with women health care executives because of the briefing.
