Praying for London

Pray For London Memes & Tributes To Share In Solidarity With Victims.

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A van ploughed into pedestrians and several people were stabbed in central London on Saturday, leaving at least 20 casualties in what police called a "terrorist" attack days before a general election.
Armed police opened fire during two "terrorist incidents" at London Bridge and nearby Borough Market, a popular nightspot teeming with bars on a warm summer evening.
"We can confirm we have taken at least 20 patients to six hospitals across London," the London Ambulance Service said in a statement.
Witnesses described a van speeding into several pedestrians on London Bridge and then a knife-wielding man sprinting towards a bar packed with revellers enjoying a Saturday night out.
One witness described seeing five assailants and several people said they were locked inside pubs and restaurants by police and had to come out with their hands on their heads.
Italian photographer Gabriele Sciotto, who was watching the Champions League final at the Wheatsheaf pub in Borough Market, said he saw three men being shot just outside the pub.

In his picture, a man wearing combat trousers, with a shaved head and what looked like a belt with canisters attached to it could be seen on the ground with two more bodies behind him.
Pictures showed medical staff attending to apparent victims of the attack and a helicopter buzzing just metres over London bridge, one of the major arteries in the City business district.
Police responded rapidly with dozens of emergency vehicles and authorities led shellshocked members of the public away from the scene.
The attack came more than a week after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert in the northern city of Manchester and days ahead of the June 8 election, where security is a major theme.
It also sparked harrowing memories of an attack on Westminster Bridge when 52-year-old British Muslim convert Khalid Masood rammed his car into pedestrians before crashing into the barriers surrounding parliament and then stabbing a police officer to death.
It is the latest in a string of attacks to hit Europe, including in Paris, Berlin and Saint Petersburg.

- 'Potential act of terrorism' -

Police said the first reports of a "vehicle in collision with pedestrians on London Bridge" came at 10:08pm local time ( 2108 ) and were quickly followed by "reports of stabbings in Borough Market," at the south end of the bridge.
"Armed officers responded and shots have been fired," police said.
Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the "terrible incident in London" was being treated as "a potential act of terrorism."
She will hold an emergency ministerial meeting later on Sunday and Facebook activated its safety check function for people in London to let their loved ones know they are safe.
US President Donald Trump offered his help, tweeting "WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!"
French President Emmanuel Macron said France was "more than ever at Britain's side." 
US pop star Ariana Grande, whose concert in Manchester was the scene of a terror attack last week that claimed 22 lives, tweeted: "Praying for London".

- 'Her throat had been cut' -

Witnesses on London Bridge reported seeing a van mounting the pavement and hitting pedestrians and a man with a knife running.
"There was a van that crashed into the fences on London Bridge. And then there was a man with a knife, he was running. He came down the stairs and went to the bar," Dee, 26, who was visibly in shock and declined to give her last name, told AFP.
BBC reporter Holly Jones, who was there at the time of the incident, said she saw a van driven by a man travelling "at about 50 miles (80 kilometres) an hour".
She said about five people were being treated for injuries after the vehicle mounted the pavement and hit them.
"There's several police boats with torchlights searching the Thames at the moment," she told BBC radio.
She added that she saw a man, who had his shirt off and was in handcuffs, being arrested by police.
Alex Shellum at the Mudlark pub near the scene of the attack said a woman had come into the bar "bleeding heavily from the neck".
"It appeared that her throat had been cut," he told the BBC.

- 'Large blade' -

Another witness, who gave his name as Alessandro, also told BBC radio that he saw a van strike several people on London Bridge.
"I saw this van going left and right, left and right, trying to catch as many people as he could. And people just tried to get out of the way of the van.
"Then I tried to help people, wounded people."
Husband and wife Ben and Natalie told BBC Radio 5 Live they were outside Borough Market when they witnessed the incident there.
Ben said: "We saw people running away and then I saw a man in red with a large blade, at a guess 10 inches long, stabbing a man, about three times.
"It looked like the man had been trying to intervene, but there wasn't much he could do. He was being stabbed quite coldly and he slumped to the ground."
Ben said the man then walked towards the Southwark Tavern. He said they saw a metal chair being thrown towards the man.
"Then we heard three gunshots, definitely gunshots, and we ran."

Sourse - TheJakartaPost

Military says 89 gunmen killed during #Philippine urban battle.

A Philippine Marines armoured personnel carrier speeds away as black smoke billows from burning houses after military helicopters fired rockets at militant positions in Marawi on the southern island of Mindanao on Tuesday.

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MARAWI, Philippines - Philippine security forces have killed 89 Islamist militants during more than a week of fighting in a southern city but the gunmen are still offering strong resistance and holding hostages, the military said Wednesday.

Attack helicopters fired rockets repeatedly on Wednesday morning into the pockets of Marawi city where the militants were hiding among trapped residents, according to an AFP reporter who was following troops searching houses.

The clashes erupted on Tuesday last week when gunmen waving black flags of the Islamic State (IS) group rampaged through the mostly Muslim-populated city in response to an effort by security forces to arrest a Filipino on the US government's list of most-wanted terrorists.

That militant leader, Isnilon Hapilon, escaped but he was still believed to be in Marawi, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said Wednesday.

Eighty-nine militants had been killed in the efforts to reclaim the city and find Hapilon, Padilla told reporters.

He said the military was making "very positive" progress towards ending the crisis, which had also seen 21 security forces and 19 civilians killed.

However Padilla acknowledged there were many residents still trapped in the 10 percent of the city that the gunmen were controlling, and that troops would likely meet increasingly strong resistance there.

"That 10 percent is most likely the area that is heavily guarded and defended by any armed men if they are protecting any individual of high value," Padilla said.

Padilla said he did not know how many militants remained.

He said they had been reinforced by prisoners who escaped from two jails during the initial rampage, and "sympathisers" of the militants.

 There were more than 2,000 residents still trapped in areas of Marawi held by the militants, Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesman for the provincial crisis management committee, told AFP.

The militants also took a priest and up to 14 other people hostage at the start of the crisis.

A video of the priest appeared on social media on Tuesday in which he repeated the militants' demands to withdraw, and said the militants were holding 240 people hostage.

"The video may seem to be authentic," Padilla said, although he cautioned military technology experts were still verifying it.

Padilla also emphasised the video was being used for propaganda, that the priest was speaking under duress and he did not know if the figure about the number of hostages was correct.

President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law across the entire southern region of Mindanao, home to roughly 20 million people, in response to the crisis.

He said the Marawi violence showed that local militant groups were uniting behind IS and becoming a major security threat across Mindanao.

Source - TheNation