Dual Acts of Terror: Van Plows Into Crowd at London Bridge, Nearby Stabbings

The United Kingdom (UK) was against hit by duel acts of terrorism Saturday after a van plowed into a crowd at London Bridge and series of nearby stabbings. Police confirmed London Bridge and Borough Market to be terror not long after Prime Minister Theresa May said the incidents were being treated as a “potential act of terrorism.”

The Vauxhall stabbing is not related.

A white van went off the road before smashing into several people on London Bridge around 10 p.m. local time, and witnesses immediately said it did not look accidental. Gunfire soon broke out after on the bridge, but witnesses said it could have come from police.

Another witness told Britain’s Press Association she was in a restaurant near the bridge when three men came in and “stabbed someone in the face and someone in the stomach.” A similiar car-and-knife attack occurred just over two months ago at the U.K. Parliament.

“One of them had a big knife, then he came in and walked around the restaurant,” she added. “I guess they just kind of stabbed anyone that they saw and knocked things on the ground and then we just hid.”

London Metropolitan Police tweeted a request that citizens and visitors “continue to avoid #LondonBridge & #BoroughMarket if you can.”

U.S. President Donald J. Trump was briefed on the attacks shortly after Prime Minister May. He offered his pledge of support to the U.K. in a tweet.

The attacks comes less than two weeks after Manchester bombing at an Ariana Grande concert that killed 22 and after Great Britain just recently lowered its official terror threat from “critical.”