This is bbc world news america. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovalev foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs, and Aruba Tourism Authority kovler foundation. Planning a vacation that is relaxing and exciting is a lot easier than you think. You can wind it here in aruba. Families, couples, and trends can find their escape on the islands more, sunny days and the crystal caribbean blue sea. More information for your is availablening at aruba. Com. News. Now, bbc world welcome to a bbc news special. Im live at westminster. Terrorism in the heart of westminster. An attack left three people including a Police Officer and the attacker dead. On the other side of the road, there was a body and when i looked on the road, there was another body. When i looked over the side of the bridge, there appeared to be a body there as well. Eyewitnesses say a car mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing into railings outside parliament. At least two people who were hit have died, and at least 20 others have been injured. The attacker was shot and apprehended by police. He is among the dead. Three french students were among the injured in the attack. The french Prime Minister has promised his full support for the victims. The british Prime Minister came out to make a statement shortly after holding a government emergency meeting. Following the sick and depraved terrorist attack on the streets of our capital this afternoon. Hello and welcome from westminster, where it has been a horrifying and bloody day. For people are dead at the end of it, including, it seems, the assailant and a Police Officer, who was stabbed at the gates of the palace of westminster. Before that, a vehicle driven across Westminster Bridge careened into a number of people on the bridge and injured at two. 20 of them and killed 20 people injured and a number of them still in hospital tonight. ,heresa may, the Prime Minister convened the Government Emergency Committee meeting and after that gave a statement on todays events, describing it as a sick and depraved attack. And appalling incident, she aimed at it was changing peoples way of life here in britain in the capital, she said the attempt was doomed to failure because parliament, she said, would sit as normal tomorrow. I just chaired a meeting of the Government Emergency Committee, following the sick and depraved terrorist attack on the streets of our capital this afternoon. The full details of exactly what happened are still emerging, but having been updated by police and security officials, i can confirm that this appalling incident began when a single attacker drove his vehicle into pedestrians walking across Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring many more,. Ncluding three Police Officers this attacker, who was armed with a knife, then ran towards parliament where he was confronted by the Police Officers who keep us and our Democratic Institutions safe. Tragically, one officer was killed. The terrorist was also shot to death. The United Kingdoms threat level has been sent as severe for some time and it will not change. Acting Deputy Commissioner rally will give a further update this evening. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all who has been affected, to the victims themselves, and their family and friends who waved their loved ones off but will not now be welcoming them home. For those of us who were in parliament at the time of the attack, these events provide a particular reminder of the ourptional bravery of police and Security Services who risk their lives to keep us safe. Once again today, these exceptional men and women ran towards the danger, even as they encouraged others to move the other way. After the attack, westminster was in lockdown. Staff all told to stay where they were. Some were moved across the road to westminster abbey. About a thousand mp and others move to westminster abbey. Only in the last hour or so have those people been allowed to go home because police want to make sure there was not another attacker in and around the palace of westminster, so they were being very vigilant, keeping people where they were. That lockdown, though, now over. Around westminster still sealed off. Caught up in it all was our Political Editor who reports now. Run, move, go. The shouts surround the heart of westminster, the center of our government. Normally, a safe place. Not today. ,embers of the public politicians, the hundreds of staff for whom this is work locked down. A place of danger. Ministers rush to safety. There are at least a couple of hundred people here. This is really the heart of where westminster does its business, and we are all part of a lockdown after what has happened outside. Mps told me they heard three or four gunshots. This is obviously a place very all times,rded at but a sense of shock the final it appear something so serious has happened. Inside, everything unclear. I am now going to suspend the sitting of the house. Then in a chamber that sat through also its of situations, work interrupted. There has been a serious. Ncident within the estate it seems that a Police Officer has been stabbed, that the alleged assailant was shot by armed police. And ambulance is currently attending the same to remove the casualties. There are also reports of further violence incidents in the vicinity of the palace of westminster, but i hope colleagues on all sides would appreciate that it would be wrong of me here to go into further details until we have confirmation from the police and from the house security authorities about what is going on. As the seriousness of the attack began to spread, in p heard three orey four gunshots on their way to vote. Others saw was a rise from their office windows. We saw a thickset man in black clothes come through the gates into new palace yard, just below big ben. This man have something in his hand. It looked like a of some sort. Jacketede yellow policeman fell down, and we could see the man in black moving his arm in a way that suggested he was either stabbing or striking the yellow jacketed policeman. Then ran tooliceman get help, which was very, very quick to come, and as this attacker was running toward the , two plainclothes guys with guns shouted at him, uttered what sounded like a warning. He ignored it, and they shot a few times, and he fell. Bridge, a tourist spot. This afternoon, violence filled it. I heard what i thought was just a collision, and then i looked through the window and , and then i saw a second person down, and then i started filming, and i saw three more people down, one of them bleeding profusely. What i saw was an incident involving at least five people seriously injured. I was just walking across the bridge, and suddenly, a bus stopped. People came off the bus and seemed very upset, and i saw what appeared to be a trainer by the side of the road, and on the other side, there was a body. When i looked further up, there was another body. A car and driver intent on taking the lives of those who came to see what is normally a safe circle, the most tightly guarded part of the capital city. Danger and confusion. Know, we have declared this as a terrorist incident, and the commander carrying out a full scale investigation into carattack started when a was driven over was mr. Bridge, hitting and injuring members of the public, also including three Police Officers. The car then crashed near parliament, and at least one man thed with a knife continued attack and tried for the parliament. Sadly, i can confirm that now four people have died, including the Police Officer and one man we believe to be the attacker who was shot by a police armed officer. So much is unclear, yet police and the government considering this attack as the most serious of its kind. Not just for politicians who came to work but hundreds of people here to visit, to be part of this place. People can hit to see how parliament works. Little did they know what kind of situation would unfold. It is no hard to believe what is unfolding today. An attack that in theory many people expected to come to in practice,y, but shock in our parliament and country. Whatever the motive, an effort to stop our democracy in its tracks. Of course, after the terror of what happened today and the panic and the lockdown in and around westminster, not only members of parliament, but also clerical staff and catering joined by some who have just come from the lockdown. Tell us what you saw and what you heard. Was rushed in on a push her into the kitchen where i was working. They said there was a loose gun man, so everyone was kept inside the kitchen. On both sides everywhere, it was. Uided they took out the central lobby almost two hours. Later on, they took us to the great westminster home where they made the announcement where biscuitser provided and water for everybody. What about you . Were you scared when all of this was going on . Es because i never seen anything like that before in parliament, and i have become very surprised. Parliament is always ready to act immediately, and i was there. We have been told not ever to go everybody will look because none of us had seen anything like that before. It certainly was a surprise. It certainly was. Two of the catering staff at the palace of westminster who were caught up in the lockdown. Lets go to Scotland Yard for the latest on what police are saying. Atan extremely sad mood here Scotland Yard, but also an extremely busy time for them. Sad because they have lost one of their own today and Scotland Yard clarified that it was in fact an unarmed officer who was killed at westminster today. One of his colleagues, who clearly was armed, was able to shoot down the attacker. The investigation, though, continues at speed. Police gave us the indication that they are treating is at the moment as a socalled lone wolf attack, but they will not be taking any chances, so they will be looking for known associates and trying to piece together the latest movements of this attack and trying to build a Bigger Picture of what happened. The Terror Threat level in the u. K. Has not gone up in light love the in light of the dreadful events we have seen today. Of thetake the case london bombings in 2005, the threat level went up to critical, which is the highest level, which means another attack would be imminent. In this case, that has not happened, and it remains severe, which means an attack is highly likely. Police will have lots to do this evening. We expect to hear from the u. K. s top counterterrorism officer, currently the acting Deputy Commissioner of the metropolitan police. We expect him to come out probably in the next 10 minutes or so to give us more information. He was able to confirm earlier that four people have lost their lives, 20 people injured, but he was not able to go into more specifics. It may be the case that he can give us more detail. Today whothe attacker is now dead. If police and know who this individual is, they certainly have not confirmed his identity at this point, but police and specifically these counterterrorism units who have been working flat out since this afternoon theyve got a big job ahead of them as they try to piece together this investigation. Thank you very much indeed lets get the views now of security expert brian who joins us. Can an attack like this be stopped realistically, a lone wolf attack, which this appears to be . Is manage the do. Isk as best we can a soon as the attacker was inside, it was clear he was a threat. What we have seen throughout the [inaudible] would you say that security in and around the palace of westminster as a result of this needs to be stepped up . Obviously, theres a question of balance. Mps what to be excess will and do not want westminster to be turned into a fortress. Absolutely not. This goes for not just the palace of westminster but across the country. People want to have their freedom of movement and do not want to be restricted unnecessarily, but i think it just goes to prove what happened today. Is absolutely adequate. It did exactly what it was designed to do. Much indeed very for being with us. That is the latest hear from westminster. The lockdown that there was here this afternoon is now over. People have been allowed to leave westminster, go back home. Police very aware there might have been another attacker, and thats why they wanted to keep people exactly where they were in the palace of westminster or an officers nearby. Some people moved to westminster abbey, in fact, and have only just in the last hour or so been allowed to go home, but theresa may describing it as a sick and. Epraved attack thank you very much for that. Still, no indication yet as to who carried out this attack. Or if it was inspired by the socalled Islamic State, but in washington, the american secretary of state said that defeating i. S. Is the number one goal in the middle east. Our correspondent is at the state department in washington. What has the reaction then, if any, from the state department to the attack here in london . As you were saying, we had this big meeting to fight against and defeat the Islamic State group, so the news from london really resonated here. We do not know who is behind what happened, but it is a reminder of the threat of lone wolf attacks, some of whom are expired by islamic extremists and are very hard to protect against. We will always be vulnerable for these kind of attacks. Theres no way we can be 100 safe, but we can do many Different Things to reduce the risks and also to fight terrorist organizations. That is what we are doing in , but this is part of military means but also about police and intelligence and an ideological fight against those values, which are about respecting basic human rights. National security in the region has been made a priority, and it was quick to respond to this attack on a major ally. He praised the Effective Response of the Security Forces and First Responders and pledged american support and cooperation to bring the perpetrators to justice, and of course, we also had a statement from the secretary of state, rex tillerson, who condemned what he calls these horrifying acts of violence. He has met the British Foreign secretary, who was here for the british meeting but has not yet spoken publicly. The countries have often Work Together for a number of years, especially following attacks in london and the 9 11 attacks. What now moving forward do you think the conversations will be at this hour between the two . They may include that sort of thing, the kind of stepped up work out if the u. S. Is offering cooperation, how that might play out, though that would probably be taking place more at cia headquarters in the National Security council, but i think certainly mr. Tillerson will be talking about the shared fight against terrorism and also the shared threats because there have been lone wolf attacks in the United States as well as a if that is indeed what you can call this. One of the things he emphasized during the meeting was the importance of fighting Islamic State propaganda and recruitment and influence on the internet. He said we must write i. S. Online as much as we would do on the ground, and i think that whole idea of Islamic State or other islamist extremist inspired attackers is something that resonates very much here and that may be part of the conversation as well. Thank you very much for that update. A short time ago, we had the White House Press secretary, sean spicer, and his reaction to what has happened here in westminster. This is what he had to say. The president has been briefed on the situation in london. He just spoke to Prime Minister may, and we will have a readout on that call so in. We obviously condemned todays attack in westminster, which United Kingdom is treating as an act of terrorism, and we applaud the Quick Response that the British Police and their First Responders made to the situation. The victims of this are in our thoughts and prayers. The city of london and her majestys government have the full support of the u. S. Government and responding to the attack and bringing those to justice who are responsible. Just want to bring you an update that has come to us from Scotland Yard to the press bureau saying they want to make a clarification regarding the Police Officer who was killed. They say the following the statement was made to the media by the acting Deputy Commissioner. They stated during the press briefing that the officer who was killed during the incident was armed. It has now been confirmed that was not armed, the Police Officer who was attacked, stabbed, outside the palace house was not armed when he was attacked. Lets bring you uptodate with what we know at this hour. Police in britain say that four people have in killed and at aast 20 others injured in terrorist attack. Outside the houses of parliament in london on wednesday afternoon. Those who died included a policeman stabbed by the attacker after he got into the grounds of parliament. The attacker was shot by police. Shortly before, the attacker, who Police Believe was acting alone, drove into Westminster Bridge nearby, killing two people. TheresaPrime Minister may was taken to safety when gunshots were heard. She then returned to downing street to chair an emergency crisis meeting, cobra, a meeting with ministers, and later, within the last hour or so, has shared her thoughts regarding the incident, saying she felt sickened and depraved by the incident. Authorities have confirmed they will resume as normal on thursday. A day of shock for londoners as once again london came under attack by a brutal, senseless terror attack. Bbc world news. Make sense of International News at bbc. Com news. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newmans own foundation, giving all profits from newmans own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs, and Aruba Tourism Authority. Planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. You can find it here in aruba. Families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling tradewinds, and the crystal cool caribbean sea. Nonstop flights are available from most major airports. More information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening, im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight, President Trump turns up the heat on members of his own party as the health care makeover he wants faces the possibility of rejection. Then, in her first interview since leaving office, former obama National Security advisor susan rice talks the dangers of losing credibility in trumps white house. Also ahead, Supreme Court nominee neil gorsuch faces more questions about his view of the constitution and the law. And, as colors drain from coral in australias Great Barrier reef, we examine how warming waters are killing the Worlds Largest living structure. Corals s