Security services respond to Westminster incident

A man was shot by armed police this afternoon outside the Houses of Parliament in central London after a police officer was attacked with a knife outside Parliament.

The incident took place following reports of a number of people being hit by a car on Westminster Bridge.

Police are asking people to avoid: Parliament Square; Whitehall; Westminster Bridge; Lambeth Bridge; Victoria Street up to the junction with Broadway and the Victoria Embankment up to Embankment tube. This is to allow the emergency services to deal with the ongoing incident.

Firearms officers are on the scene and the Met Police says it is treating the incident as a terrorist incident "until we know otherwise".

The Prime Minister, at the time in PMQs, was quickly escorted from the building.

A COBR meeting will take place this evening.

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