(Bloomberg) -- U.K. police officers shot and killed a man in south London who stabbed two people in a terrorism-related incident that the Metropolitan Police said was โIslamist-related.โ
Police said a third person received minor injuries probably caused by glass following the discharge of a police weapon. All three victims were taken to London hospitals, one with life-threatening injuries. Specialist officers established that a device strapped to the suspect's body was a hoax explosive.
Police officers were immediately on the scene in Streatham because of a โproactive Counter-Terrorism operation,โ Lucy D'Orsi, the Met's deputy assistant commissioner, said in a statement Sunday. According to the Guardian newspaper, the attacker was under active surveillance and the subject of a live investigation.
โTerrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life,โ Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in a statement. โHere in London we will never let them succeed.โ
The attack is the latest in a series of terror-related incidents in the British capital. Two people were killed near London Bridge in November, and eight people died in another attack at the same location in 2017.
Before winning the U.K.'s general election in December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to toughen punishment for those convicted of terror or extremist offenses.
โMy thoughts are with the injured and all those affected,โ Johnson said Sunday on Twitter. โThank you to all emergency services responding to the incident in Streatham.โ
To contact the reporters on this story: Giulia Camillo in New York at gcamillo@bloomberg.net;Joe Mayes in London at jmayes9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Giulia Camillo at gcamillo@bloomberg.net, James Ludden
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