Police shoot woman in burka in London to 'foil plot'

Police shoot woman in burka in London to 'foil plot'



The 20-year-old Muslim woman shot by police as they foiled an 'active terror plot' was taken away on a stretcher in her blood-soaked burka yelling: 'Don't touch my body'.

The suspect screamed 'get off - do not touch me' as they tried to strip off her clothes and treat her wounds after the raid in Willesden, north London, at 7pm last night.

Dramatic video footage shows the moment elite Met officers smashed through the door, ran up to the first floor flat and then threw in CS canisters before 'at least six' shots rang out including two that shattered an upstairs window.

Neighbours heard a woman 'screaming' inside before the young suspect lay on the pavement bleeding from her arm and stomach while still wearing her burka.

One said: 'Doctors were trying to help her. She was shouting: "Do not touch me, do not touch my body".'

Another witness who saw the raid's aftermath said: 'They brought down a lady in a black burka. She had been shot the paramedics stripped off her clothing to get access to the wounded areas.'

The woman - believed to be the first female terror suspect in UK history to be shot by police - was rushed to hospital where she remains in a serious but stable condition and is too unwell to be arrested under the terrorism act.

Five people linked to the flat including a 16-year-old boy and a couple, both 28, have been held over alleged terror offences. A woman, 43, was held in Kent.

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Neil Basu said today that the raids meant an 'active' terror plot had been foiled - but had nothing to with the arrest of a 27-year-old with a 'rucksack of knives' grabbed on Whitehall yesterday.

Residents of Harlesden Road say that the property was being watched on the morning of the raid and MI5 were also 'heavily' involved in the operation, a security source told MailOnline.

A 16-year-old boy and and a 20-year-old woman were arrested inside the Willesden house and a man, 20, was arrested nearby. A couple, both 28, were held last night as they arrived home. Simultaneously a woman, 43, was arrested at an address in Kent.

All were held on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts - but the shot woman is currently too ill to be arrested.

Ruth Haile 40, who has lived in the area for nine years, said: 'I heard a shot and I looked out my window and there were dozens of police.

'The woman was being arrested, she was on the floor wearing an long dress and covered in a head scarf.

'She was shouting, 'Do not touch me, do not touch my body.'

'She was injured, she had a wound on her right side and doctors were trying to help her. There was a bandage on the wound.

'She was lying in the street and there were about five or six police around her, some of them were carrying guns.

'She was shouting 'No, no, no', she was shouting with an accent.

'Police were cutting her dress and she was shouting at them, shouting 'No, no, no'.

'That was the first time I had seen her, you could see through the front door and there was blood everywhere.'

Maxine McKenzie, who lives up the road from where the swoop took place, described hearing 'gunshots' and saw a woman being taken away in an ambulance.

The 48-year-old said: 'I saw lots of police officers, different kinds of police officers... a lot of frenetic police activity and then they very quickly put the cordon up and then very quickly after that an ambulance arrived.

'A woman was being led away so she was led down the street... she was then restrained - they put restraints on her behind her back - and took her off. Then we saw the injured person being taken out of the house on a stretcher and being put into an ambulance. She was sitting upright and had oxygen on - I couldn't tell if she was conscious or unconscious.'



Another neighbour Tom O'Connor, 33, said: 'We were watching TV and I heard we heard some noises and it slowly dawned on me that they were gunshots.

'Then we saw undercover armed police running past the window and then we saw heavily armed guards.

'We then heard smash, smash, smash.

'About ten minutes later there were a few screams and I saw some people in stab vests, who I think might be interpreters.

'There were about seven or ten armed officers and loads more undercover. I've heard the house has been under surveillance for a while now.'