[Telegraph] A police operation in north London during which a woman was shot, foiled an active terror plot, Scotland Yard has said.
Armed officers raided a property in the Willesden area shortly after 7pm on Thursday evening and a woman in her 20s was shot by police.
Six people were tossed in the calaboose
Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up!
during the operation and police said the woman remained in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
The raid took place at a Victorian property on Harlesden Road and locals reported hearing a number of shots as heavily armed officers from the Met's Counter Terror Specialist Firearms command stormed the house.
The operation took place just a few hours after a man was arrested in Westminster on suspicion of terrorism offences after being stopped close to Downing Street carrying a rucksack packed with knives.
| That would be Khalid Mohammed Omar Ali, 27, born abroad and reared in Tottenham. |
But Scotland Yard said the two matters were unrelated.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Neil Basu said: "Our highly trained firearms officers carried out a specialist entry into an address in Harlesden Road that we had under observation as part of a current Counter Terrorism investigation.
"An armed entry was necessary due to the nature of the intelligence that we were dealing with, and involved armed officers firing CS into the address.
"During the course of that operation one of the subjects of that operation - a woman - was shot by police - she remains in hospital.
"Her condition is serious but stable. Because of her condition she has not yet been arrested. We are monitoring her condition closely."
He added: "In total six people have now been arrested in connection with that investigation - five at or near the address and one in Kent.
"The two further arrests were made when a man and a woman - both aged 28 - returned to the address later last night.
"Searches are ongoing at three London addresses - including Harlesden Road - as part of this investigation.
"Due to these arrests that we have made, I believe that we have contained the threats that they posed."
Locals described how they saw heavily armed officers wearing bulletproof vests stormed the address just after 7pm. They said the house was occupied by a family of three who were occasionally visited by a an older woman in her 40s.
Neighbours said the injured woman was brought out of the house on a stretcher, wearing a burkha. One said she shouted "don't touch my body" as paramedics tried to tend to her wounds.
Police said six people had been arrested including a 16-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman who were detained at the address. A 20-year-old man was arrested near to the address and a 43-year-old woman was arrested in Kent a short while later. Two further people, a man and woman both aged 28, were arrested when they returned to the address last night. All four have been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts under section 41 of the terrorism act 2000.
The Daily Mail has photos here.
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