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2017 Westminster Terror Thread
Topic Started: Mar 22 2017, 12:01 PM (632 Views)
Webster
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.......there are reports coming in over the wire of an apparent terrorist incident right outside or in the vicinity of the Houses of Parliament in London....

(The Guardian) Reports of shooting at House of Commons
--There are reports of a shooting at the Commons

--Man shot in entrance to the Commons. Appears to be a policeman down too (Jason Groves, Daily Mail - 22 March 2017)
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The brother of a British aid worker murdered by Isis in Syria has appealed for calm in the wake of the Westminster attack, Press Association reports:

David Haines was beheaded in Syria three years ago by the group after being held prisoner for 18 months.

His elder brother Mike, who works with groups to combat extremist indoctrination of young people in the UK, said it was “vital” that communities “remain calm and united”, regardless of the motive.

Mike Haines said: “My thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victims of this tragic attack in the heart of our nation’s capital.

“In the midst of the hurt and heartache that we are all feeling in this moment, it is vital that we as a society remain calm and united, no matter who or what was behind this attack.

“Terrorism, in all its guises, seeks to spread fear and divide us. In confronting this evil, we must stand shoulder to shoulder, with confidence that we are all stronger when we stand together.

“The reports of kindness and solidarity amongst those on the scene, proves our togetherness.

“Whatever the motivations, they will not succeed in sewing distrust amongst us – I have seen first hand that we are stronger than that.”
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Webster
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(The Guardian) The attack outside the Houses of Parliament in London is the latest in a series of terrorist atrocities involving a vehicle being driven at speed into pedestrians – a tactic actively promoted by Islamic State.

In December, a refugee in Germany drove a truck into a market in Berlin, killing 12. Last July a stolen truck driven through a Bastille Day parade in Nice killed 86. The strikes appear inspired, if not actively commissioned, by Isis in Iraq and Syria.

In November a student used a vehicle and knives to injure 13 on a campus in Ohio, in the US. His motives and allegiance are less clear.

Such attacks are not unprecedented, but have become much more numerous in recent years.

In 2014 the chief spokesman of the group, Mohammed al-Adnani, issued a call for sympathisers in the west to strike “unbelievers”, especially police officers or soldiers, where they were – rather than travel to the middle east to fight there. “If you are not able to find a bomb or a bullet, then smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him,” he said.

Though al-Adnani, who was killed in 2016, pointed a finger specifically at France, where there were two vehicle attacks in 2014, he also cited the UK among preferred targets.
-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/23/crude-nature-of-attack-suggests-lack-of-isis-network-in-britain
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, has offered his condolences: A terrorist attack has occurred in the United Kingdom. I offer my deepest condolences to the victims and extend my sympathy to all those who were wounded.

Terrorism is absolutely intolerable. Japan stands in solidarity with Prime Minister May of the United Kingdom, as well as with its people during this difficult time.

Prime Minister May has conveyed the message that the United Kingdom is firm in the fight against terrorism. Japan offers its full support to Prime Minister May and will combat terrorism in cooperation with the international community.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) MPs have been paying tribute to PC Keith Palmer, who was fatally stabbed within the Westminster security cordon.

Conservative MP James Cleverly said he was a former army comrade of Palmer: “I’ve known Keith for 25 years. We served together in the Royal Artillery before he became a copper. A lovely man, a friend. I’m heartbroken. My thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of PC Keith Palmer. A brave man.”

Home affairs select committee chair and Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who was in parliament when the terrorist attacked, said: “Thank you PC Keith Palmer – to your bravery many others owe their lives and safety.”

Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger said: “May PC Keith Palmer rest in peace. He died protecting our democracy. My sincerest condolences to all of his family and friends.”
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Webster
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(The Guardian) 3:46am Update
Update 1: Mark Rowley, acting deputy commissioner at the Met, is speaking now outside Scotland Yard. Four people are dead and 29 treated in five hospitals across London. Seven are in a critical condition.

This is a revised death toll – last night police said five had died. The four are PC Keith Palmer, two members of the public – a woman in her mid-40s, and a man in his mid-50s – and the attacker.

Update 2: Rowley says investigations are continuing and says he will not be identifying the attacker yet.

He confirms that related arrests have been made in Birmingham, London and elsewhere. Seven arrests were made at six addresses, he says.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Met Police Summary
-Rowley revised down the death toll – four people killed in the attack in Westminster yesterday, including the killer and parliament police officer Keith Palmer.
-Two other victims, who Rowley said were a mix of nationalities, were killed on Westminster bridge, a man and a woman.
-This morning, there are 29 people being treated in hospital, seven in a critical condition, which is also revised down from yesterday, when police said 40 were injured.
-Police have searched six addresses in Birmingham, London and other parts of the country, and made seven arrests.
-They believe this attacker “acted alone and inspired by international terrorism”.
-Rowley said he had no specific information about any further risk to the public, but repeated that more officers were on the streets - armed and unarmed - and that many had leave cancelled or were working extended hours.
-The area is a “large and complex crime scene” that officers are still working on.
-Rowley said he would not identify the attacker or other victims at this stage - because the victims were a mix of nationalities.
He said he realised journalists would be investigating too, but asked them not to name the attacker.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Fallon: 'London is taking this on the chin'
--Sir Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has been speaking to Radio 4 Today. He said police “working assumption is that this is linked to islamic terrorism”. Police had been working through the night, he said.

Fallon says he will not rule out that the attack was directed from overseas, but says all options are being looked at.

They [police] don’t yet have a full enough picture of the man and his known associates who may or may not have helped him prepare the attack.

Fallon says he has passed many people going to work as normal in London this morning, including pupils on school trips, and says parliament will sit as normal at 9.30am.

London has seen this before and is taking it on the chin.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Birmingham has long been home to violent jihadis attracted to plotting and supporting terrorism.

The chief constable of the West Midlands, Dave Thompson, has said that the area was second only to London for the number of terror plots linked to it.

In a Guardian interview last year, Thompson said the rise of Isis, which he referred to as Daesh, had led to a very high “intensity and determination” of terrorist threat, he said.

Thompson said there were differences between how al-Qaida had tried to attract British recruits and Isis’s approach. Key to this was Isis’s declaration of a hardline, pan-national Islamist state.

There is something around the concept of Daesh, the concept of a caliphate that is drawing people to that. And I think there is a greater sophistication in the approach taken to radicalise people through more digital means, and I think that has driven a different face of the challenge we’ve faced over the last few years.” The Hagley Road area of Bearwood, where one raid by police took place, is close to the Birmingham city centre, barely a mile away.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) West Midlands police confirm arrests made in Birmingham
--West Midlands police have confirmed arrests were made at the addresses raided in Birmingham. A statement from the force said the arrests and searches were intelligence-led and there was no immediate risk to public safety.

Extra officers will be out on patrol throughout the next few days in Birmingham, the force said.

WMP’s assistant chief constable Marcus Beale, who leads on counter-terrorism for the force, said:

We work tirelessly to counter terrorism. Our absolute priority is to ensure the safety and security of the people who live, work and visit the West Midlands area. Our policing tactics and security measures are being reviewed on a daily basis – we, along with our partners, are working around the clock to keep Birmingham and our other cities as safe as can be.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Candlelight vigil in London this evening
--The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has issued an open invitation to all Londoners and visitors to the capital to a candlelight vigil in Trafalgar Square from 6pm this evening.

This is the statement from City Hall: The mayor is asking everyone to come together in solidarity to remember those who have lost their lives, to express sympathy with their families and loved ones and to show the world that we are more committed than ever to the values that we hold dear – that we remain united and open.

London is the greatest city in the world. We will never be cowed by terrorism. We stand together, in the face of those who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life. We always have, and we always will.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Yesterday the anti-immigrant right, which in the past has sought to use terror attacks to justify its political stance, was generally silent. The Ukip leader Paul Nuttall put out a statement including a line saying “in the coming hours and days more information will doubtlessly emerge about the attacker or attackers and their motivation” but the press release focused on praising the emergency services and expressing sympathy for the victims.

This morning, though, Leave.EU, the leave campaign run by the Nigel Farage ally and onetime Ukip donor Arron Banks, has put out a lengthy statement essentially blaming the attack on mass immigration. It says: We are sick, tired but perhaps even more so we are angry that recent governments across Europe have enabled these attacks through grossly negligible policies that have left us vulnerable. How many times must we #PrayForNice? For Brussels? Berlin? Paris? London? The list is endless.

The statement is not attributed to anyone by name.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) A service is now taking place in front of Scotland Yard, in front of the flame that burns as a tribute to all dead Metropolitan police officers. A pray is being read by the Met’s chaplain, Rev Jonathan Osborne.

Cressida Dick, the incoming Met commissioner, Craig Mackay, the acting commissioner and other officers held a minute’s silence in front of the “eternal flame” alight outside New Scotland Yard on Victoria embankment, within sight of Westminster bridge.

The new headquarters was set to be formally opened by the Queen on Thursday but the ceremony was cancelled.
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(The Guardian) Craig Mackey, the Met’s acting commissioner, is speaking now to gathered staff and journalists. He says the support of Londoners has been invaluable and ensures the police can do the job they are entrusted to do. Mackey says he is leading the response and the investigation is ongoing.

MacKey urges anyone in the city if they are concerned or worried to approach the police and talk to them. His voice is cracking as he says the response is large and covers all of London and all parts of national government.

MacKey says the work done over many years, practising for scenarios like this, has helped but nothing prepares families for when events like this happen.

MacKey says he was a witness to the attack on PC Palmer and said it was his duty to secure his evidence before taking over the lead on the investigation.
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(The Guardian) French authorities have launched an inquiry into the London attack after it became clear three French schoolchildren were wounded, two of them seriously.

The counter-terrorism section of the Paris public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into “attempted assassination related to a terrorist enterprise”.

The investigation, which is standard procedure in France when French nationals are victims of violence abroad, is in the hands of the DGSI internal intelligence agency.

The children were part of a group on a week-long visit to London from the Saint-Joseph de Concarneau lycée in Brittany.

About a dozen members of the group, aged 15 to 16, are believed to have been on Westminster Bridge when the Hyundai car ploughed into them.
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--We have now made a total of eight arrests as part of the ongoing Counter Terrorism operation #WestminsterAttack (Metropolitian Police Service, 23 March 2017)
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