Several stabbed near London Bridge, attacker identified

London: British police have shot dead a man on London Bridge, in the centre of the British capital, following a stabbing rampage that killed two people and wounded three others.

They named the attacker as 28-year-old Usman Khan, who had been previously convicted of terrorism offences and released from prison last year.

"This individual was known to authorities, having been convicted in 2012 for terrorism offences," said Britain's top counter-terrorism police officer Neil Basu in a statement.

"He was released from prison in December 2018 on licence and clearly, a key line of enquiry now is to establish how he came to carry out this attack."

Police earlier said the incident had been declared a terrorist attack but were keeping an "open mind" about the motive.

The head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said the suspect died at the scene after being shot by specialist officers. He was later found to be wearing a hoax bomb.

Commissioner Cressida Dick said police were working to determine whether the man had acted alone or was part of a wider network.

"In the coming days you will see more police, both armed and unarmed, patrolling our streets to help reassure those who are understandably concerned," she said.

"The empty ideology of terror offers nothing but hatred and today I urge everyone to reject that. We must emerge stronger still from this tragedy. In doing that, we will ensure that the very few who seek to divide us will never, never succeed."

Police were called just before 2pm on Friday to a stabbing at the Fishmongers' Hall building to the north of London Bridge, which links the city's business district with the south bank of the River Thames.

Dramatic footage posted on social media showed a scuffle between the offender, members of the public and police on the pavement. As a pedestrian takes a large knife away from the offender, police move in and shoot the man dead.

The attack was over five minutes after the first call for help to police.

"What was amazing about today was that we saw in one individual - the suspect - the worst in humanity but we also saw in the response from members of the public and emergency services the very best in humanity," said Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London.

"What's remarkable about the images we've seen is the breathtaking heroism of members of the public who literally ran towards the danger, not knowing what confronted them. They really are the best of us."

Police have not released details of the two people killed in the attack and it is unclear how seriously the other three have been wounded.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison paid tribute to the victims and their families on Saturday morning, and said that the government was not aware of any Australians caught up in the London rampage or another stabbing attack in The Hague.

"We are not aware of any Australians being caught up in these attacks at this stage, but we are in close contact with local authorities," he tweeted.

Amanda Hunter said she was on a bus crossing the bridge when gunshots rang out.

"(The bus) all of a sudden stopped and there was commotion and I looked out the window and I just saw these three police officers going over to a man," she told the BBC.

"It seemed like there was something in his hand, I'm not 100 per cent sure, but then one of the police officers shot him."

Cars and buses on the busy bridge were immediately halted, with a white truck jack-knifed across the lanes. The truck was seen surrounded by police but it is unclear whether it is linked to the attack.

Crowds of people fled the bridge and nearby Borough Market, which was the scene of a terror attack in June 2017 when three militants drove a van into pedestrians and then attacked people in the surrounding area, killing eight people.

At least 200 police officers swarmed the area on Friday, and the ambulance service declared what it called a "major incident".

One market worker said heavily armed police stormed the area and told everyone to get down, before they were ordered to evacuate.

Simon Smith, from Union Street Partners, sheltered in his office as people fled the scene.

"We were sitting in the office watching it unfold and I shouted to the police ‘Should we be here?’ and they shouted back ‘No, get out and get out now’," he said.

Smith said the incident brought back memories of the 2017 attack, which left a bullet hole in the window of his Borough Market office.

"Today has brought all that back. And the hairs on my neck are standing upright. This isn’t a nice experience for all these people to go through again," he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson travelled back to 10 Downing Street from his constituency to receive updates on the incident.

"I'm being kept updated on the incident at London Bridge and want to thank the police and all emergency services for their immediate response," he said.

The United Kingdom's terror alert level was reduced from 'severe' to 'substantial' in early November, despite 800 live counter-terror investigations and 24 thwarted plots since a deadly assault outside Westminster in March 2017.

Explaining the change, Assistant Commissioner Basu said the shift indicated "positive developments in reducing the threat from terrorism but still means an attack is likely."

With agencies