The London Metropolitan Police said Friday that a police officer shot and killed a man with a fake explosive device after a stinging incident near London Bridge.
Neil Basu, the city police deputy commissioner, said the authorities would treat him as a “terrorist incident,” but “they will be open-minded about any cause.” He said the suspect had died at the scene.
The test was conducted after the police were called shortly before 1:00 pm for a stinging incident near London Bridge.
The video, released on social media, showed several people fighting a knife-wielding man at one end of the busy bridge connecting the city’s business district to the south bank of the Thames.
As police officers removed people from the battle, a police officer fired on the suspect and killed him.
Basu said there were concerns that the man who was not identified could use explosives, but police “believe that a device attached to the suspect’s body is a false explosive device.”
He said the Met Counter Terrorism Command officers are now conducting this investigation.
He confirmed that several people were injured during the fighting, but did not state the severity of the injuries or the number of victims.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, says police are not looking for anyone in the jump-offs near London Bridge.
The mayor praised the “impressive heroism” of members of the public who intervened in the incident and approached the suspect. The man was subsequently shot dead by the police.
London Bridge was the site of an attack in June 2017 in which Islamic State-inspired assailants beat people on the bridge and killed two before stabbing several people at nearby Borough Market.
The BBC reported that their correspondent, John McManus, was there at the time and saw a group fighting on the bridge, with several men attacking a man.
“The police came quickly, including the armed police, and then several shots were fired at this man,” McManus said.
The Guardian newspaper quoted staff at the nearby Monument subway station, who confirmed that five people were injured in the attack. The station was shut down after the terrible experience when the police invaded the area.
The incident stopped cars and trucks on the busy bridge. Video footage showed police stationing weapons on a truck before checking their container.
A witness, Amanda Hunter, said she had crossed the bridge in a bus when she heard gunfire.
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The bus “suddenly stopped and there was a commotion and I looked out the window and saw these three policemen approaching a man,” he told the BBC.
“It looked like something was in his hand, I’m not 100% sure, but then one of the cops shot him.”
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A video posted on social media shows two men fighting on the bridge before the police remove a man in civilian clothes from a man in black clothes on the floor.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who campaigned for parliamentary elections, returned to London after the incident.
In March 2017, an attacker fatally struck four people by car on nearby Westminster Bridge and stabbed a police officer before security forces shot and killed him in a courtyard outside the parliament.
Contribute: Associated Press
