Terrorist attack on British parliament

[Enros]

A car has mown down about a dozen people outside the British parliament. Apparently they might all survive. One attacker emerged from the car and stabbed a police officer before they were shot by other armed police. According to Sky News the attacker is being given medical treatment so he presumably wasn't killed instantly.

This is obviously how ISIS operates so I think we can safely assume it was them. Parliament is one of the few places in Britain that has legions of armed police constantly on guard, so he chose a very hard target.

Obviously we know the political motive, but what about the perpetrator? Why would he attack such a well guarded target? I know a lot of attackers in Israel are simply suicidal and want to be killed by the police. Perhaps there was an element of that?

[PointOfViewGun]

A car has mown down about a dozen people outside the British parliament. Apparently they might all survive. One attacker emerged from the car and stabbed a police officer before they were shot by other armed police. According to Sky News the attacker is being given medical treatment so he presumably wasn't killed instantly.

This is obviously how ISIS operates so I think we can safely assume it was them. Parliament is one of the few places in Britain that has legions of armed police constantly on guard, so he chose a very hard target.

Obviously we know the political motive, but what about the perpetrator? Why would he attack such a well guarded target? I know a lot of attackers in Israel are simply suicidal and want to be killed by the police. Perhaps there was an element of that?

Attacking a highly protected target with a car and a knife doesn't make sense the slightest for a calculated terror attack.

[tgoodenow]

Looks like the act of Christian extremists to me, likely inspired by Donald Trump no less

[Copperknickers II]

The attack happened about 2 or 3 hours ago, not long after the weekly Prime Minister's Questions. The Houses of Parliament were put on lockdown as there were still a lot of MPs in the halls. Apparently there were 2 attackers:

One got into Palace Yard (the heavily guarded road entrance to Westminster, just underneath Big Ben adjoining Parliament Square) and tried to attack police with a knife but was shot.

The other attacked tourists on Westminster bridge, apparently by trying to run them over, ending up crashed into the railings. One fatality confirmed at the moment, and others with life threatening injuries.


The signs suggest to me this was quite a poorly planned attack and probably not by a very well connected ISIS cell, if indeed it was ISIS. They don't seem to have possessed any firearms, which are not hugely difficult to get ahold of in London if you are remotely involved in criminal circles. And attacking Palace Yard armed with only a knife is just crazy, it's one of the most heavily guarded places in the country, always at least 2 or 3 police there armed with big assault rifles and they check all the cars that go in with scanners, and the yard is surrounded by fences and usually has nobody in it except police. It's not a very good way of getting into the house itself.


EDIT: some indications that the two attacks may have been perpetrated by the same person, getting out of the car then running the short distance to Palace Yard. Or at least by two people who arrived in the same car.

[caratacus]

Attacking a highly protected target with a car and a knife doesn't make sense the slightest for a calculated terror attack.

Neither does mowing down people walking over Westminster Bridge. Is this the type of thing Erdogan was referring to today?

Shocking images of those seriously hurt.

[Copperknickers II]

Actually, looking more like it was the same person. Probable lone wolf of some kind, impossible to tell motive.

[Basil II the B.S]

I think it's important to remember this is what Londoners voted for:
Sadiq Khan: London mayor says terror attacks 'part and parcel' of living in a major city

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sadiq-khan-london-mayor-terrorism-attacks-part-and-parcel-major-cities-new-york-bombing-a7322846.html

[Himster]

They could be a pair of Irish terrorists who had recently gotten tans?
And also they were drunk so they didn't make plans, or maybe it was a big misunderstanding.

[Copperknickers II]

I think it's important to remember this is what Londoners voted for:
Sadiq Khan: London mayor says terror attacks 'part and parcel' of living in a major city

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sadiq-khan-london-mayor-terrorism-attacks-part-and-parcel-major-cities-new-york-bombing-a7322846.html

Implying that Zac Goldsmith would have prevented this attack? LOL. I'd rather vote for someone who tells the truth about something people don't want to hear, rather than someone who makes promises I do want to hear which they couldn't possibly keep.

[PointOfViewGun]

I think it's important to remember this is what Londoners voted for:
Sadiq Khan: London mayor says terror attacks 'part and parcel' of living in a major city

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7322846.html

No, a violent attack is not something Londoners voted for. To suggest that it is so because Khan indicated that big cities are more likely to be targets of violent attacks is simply an idiotic thing to suggest.

[Copperknickers II]

They could be a pair of Irish terrorists who had recently gotten tans?
And also they were drunk so they didn't make plans, or maybe it was a big misunderstanding.

Well there was a terror attack on police in Northern Ireland literally less than 24 hours ago, and the former leader of the IRA just died, a week after resigning from government and plunging N.I. into crisis, so I'd say this is as likely to be IRA as anything else until further information.

[Enros]

Looks like the act of Christian extremists to me, likely inspired by Donald Trump no less

Who are you satirizing? It's not like there is anyone whose first assumption was something other than an ISIS attack.

Well there was a terror attack on police in Northern Ireland literally less than 24 hours ago, and the former leader of the IRA just died, a week after resigning from government and plunging N.I. into crisis, so I'd say this is as likely to be IRA as anything else until further information.

I heard the attacker was described as Asian, as in South Asian.

[Basil II the B.S]

Implying that Zac Goldsmith would have prevented this attack? LOL. I'd rather vote for someone who tells the truth about something people don't want to hear, rather than someone who makes promises I do want to hear which they couldn't possibly keep.

Nah, Goldsmith was an even worse choice.

No, a violent attack is not something Londoners voted for. To suggest that it is so because Khan indicated that big cities are more likely to be targets of violent attacks is simply an idiotic thing to suggest.

ITT: let's not call it terrorism and prevent discussion

[caratacus]

Well there was a terror attack on police in Northern Ireland literally this morning and the former leader of the IRA just died, a week after resigning from government and plunging N.I. into crisis, so I'd say this is as likely to be IRA as anything else until further information.

Sky news reported that witnesses said that the attacker looked Asian.

[PointOfViewGun]

ITT: let's not call it terrorism and prevent discussion

It looks more like you're trying to deflect from the utterly stupid argument you made.

[Basil II the B.S]

It looks more like you're trying to deflect from the utterly stupid argument you made.

#alternativeuseofviolence

Because that's intelligent.

[PointOfViewGun]

#alternativeuseofviolence

Because that's intelligent.

How does this stupid post make up to the stupidity of your previous argument? The hole you created under you just keeps getting deeper and deeper.

[Heathen Hammer]

I think it's important to remember this is what Londoners voted for:
Sadiq Khan: London mayor says terror attacks 'part and parcel' of living in a major city

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a7322846.html

Not surprised here, Sadiq Khan is a sexist barbaric piece of shite.
Lucky for him, his ass is guarded 24/7, so he has nothing to worry about.

[Condottiere 40K]

Whoever it was, he doesn't appear to have put much thought in maximizing the body count.

He might be a self radicalized Daeshii adherent.

[Copperknickers II]

Sky news reported that witnesses said that the attacker looked Asian.

I don't believe Sky news eyewitnesses, however I have now seen a picture of the attacker, and he does indeed look Middle Eastern or South Asian. It's on Evening Standard if anyone wants to look. The image is not very graphic, he's just passed out on a stretcher with a dressing covering a gunshot on his stomach, and he's apparently still alive. Looks to be Pakistani, with a beard and shaven head.