British authorities say seven victims were killed and more than 30 were injured after attackers drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge and then stabbed patrons at nearby restaurants in an incident being treated as terrorism.
"It has now been confirmed sadly that seven members of the public have died," the chief of London's police force, Cressida Dick, said on June 4, raising the toll from six victims.
Three male attackers were shot dead by police in nearby Borough Market some eight minutes after the start of the incident at around 10 p.m. local time on June 3, authorities said.
Early on June 4, Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police counterterrorism head, said police believe there were just the three attackers but that the investigation is continuing into the "terrorist" act. Authorities said the attackers were wearing what appeared to be fake explosive vests.
It was the third terror attack in Britain since late March following a similar attack on March 22 near Parliament on Westminster Bridge and a bombing at a pop concert in Manchester on May 22.
Authorities said the London Bridge incident started when the attackers drove a white van off the roadway and mowed down several pedestrians.
They then went to nearby Borough Market, where they stabbed several people in the popular area filled with restaurants and bars before being shot down by police.
BBC reporter Holly Jones, who was on London Bridge, said she saw a van "probably traveling at about 50 miles an hour."
"He swerved right round me and then hit about five or six people," Jones reported.
At Borough Market, witnesses said three men armed with knives stormed into bars and restaurants, stabbing people at random as patrons and staff fled or hid inside the establishments.
"They were stabbing people... We were shouting 'stop, stop' and people threw chairs at them," a chef at one restaurant told the dpa news agency. "Police came and shot [the attackers] straight away."
It was not immediately disclosed if the seven people killed were pedestrians at the bridge or restaurant patrons at the market.
Prime Minister Theresa May described the event as a "dreadful" and "terrible incident." She and said would chair a meeting of the government's COBRA emergency committee later on June 4.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan called the attack "barbaric."
"This was a deliberate and cowardly attack on innocent Londoners and visitors to our city enjoying their Saturday night," he said. "There is no justification whatsoever for such barbaric acts"
French President Emmanuel Macron offered support in a tweet.
"In the face of this new tragedy, France is more than ever at Britain's side," he wrote. "My thoughts go out to the victims and their loved ones.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter, "Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there - WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!"
In another tweet, he wrote: "We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!"
The U.K. has been under high alert after recent terror incidents and ahead of the June 8 general election.
On March 22, three people were killed and at least 29 were hurt when a driver struck pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near Parliament. The car then crashed into the fence around Parliament and the driver attacked an officer with a knife.
More recently, a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a music concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande in Manchester on May 22.
