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Police Confirm At Least 4 People Dead After Attack Near U.K. Parliament

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

A short update now on an attack in London today that police there are calling a terrorist incident.

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

This afternoon, an SUV drove into people who were walking along London's Westminster Bridge. Then it crashed into the fence that surrounds the U.K. Parliament building. A man with a knife got out of the car and stabbed a police officer. Then police shot and killed him. At least five people are confirmed dead, including the attacker and the police officer he stabbed. In total, about 40 people have been injured.

CORNISH: We don't know yet who the attacker was, and no group has claimed responsibility. But today's events unfolded in a similar way to two 2016 attacks. Both of those incidents used a vehicle as a weapon, and both were linked to the Islamic State.

MCEVERS: The first attack was in Nice in southern France last summer. A man drove a truck into a crowd of people who were watching fireworks on Bastille Day and killed 86 people. And then in December in Berlin, 12 people were killed, and dozens were injured when an attacker drove a truck into a busy Christmas market. ISIS claimed responsibility for both attacks. But again, we don't know that the group is behind what happened today outside the U.K. Parliament.

CORNISH: We will bring you more information about this incident as we learn. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.