For the third time in less than three months, terrorists have taken aim at Britain's heart.
Just two weeks after a suicide bomber targeted youngsters at the Manchester concert by pop princess Ariana Grande, killing 22, terrorists shouting "this is for Allah" hit central London.
It was an attack very similar to the assault on Westminster Bridge and parliament in March that claimed five victims, including a police officer.
Just after 10pm on Saturday (Sunday AEST), screams, sirens and shots marked the end of a night out in the city for thousands of people who rushed in fear from London Bridge and nearby Borough Market on the south bank of the Thames.
It started with a speeding van veering off the road and mowing down pedestrians on the bridge before men armed with long knives jumped out and started stabbing people at the market, an area full of bars and restaurants doing busy late-night trade.
"They were stabbing everyone. They were running up and going 'This is for Allah'," witness Gerard, who was at on of the attack sites, Borough Market, said.
He told BBC New he saw them stab a girl "10 times, maybe 15 times."
"She was going, 'Help me, help me' and I couldn't do nothing," he said
"I threw something - there was a bike on the floor. I threw something at them like a bike or a chair."
Alex Shellum, who was in The Mudlark pub, close to London Bridge, said he saw a bleeding woman in her early 20s stagger in.
"It appeared to myself and to my friends that her throat had been cut."
Gunshots were also reported as police swarmed the streets and ordered people to flee the area.
The attacks claimed six victims, while British police killed the three terrorists within eight minutes of the first assault on London Bridge.
A wide no-go zone has been put in place stretching across the closed London and Southwark Bridges to the north shore of the Thames and many blocks away from Borough Markets on the southern shore.
Police vans carrying officers moved in and out of the zone overnight and a police helicopter constantly hovered overhead.
London's tallest building, The Shard, stands above the area and it too was off limits overnight.
Armed police vigorously enforced the cordon late on Saturday night.
"This is an active shooting zone, keep moving" armed officers shouted to people as they ordered them to cross north across Southwark Bridge away from the cordon.
Office worker Newton Woko told AAP he was at work in America Street when he heard screaming and shouting.
"And then there were gunshots. It was a pop pop sound," the 45-year-old said as he walked out of the police cordon early on Sunday.
"And when we came out to see what was happening the police told us to go back in."
Bar manager Patrick Witter told AAP he was holding an event in his bar on Southwark Street when guests who had been outside came rushing in saying people had been stabbed and shot.
"Panic broke out a bit, people were really hysterical, really scared, fearful, so we tried to calm everyone down."
The 51-year-old said the doors were closed and locked but security then advised people had to be evacuated from the area so the bar was cleared and locked up.
"... this was a deliberate and cowardly attack on innocent Londoners and visitors," the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said, as locals began opening their homes to shelter people who couldn't get out of the area.
This included one woman who tweeted that she lived five minutes from London Bridge and "if anyone needs emergency supplies, tea or a quiet place to wait things out, message me."
Share
