Police shoot man dead in London after stabbing described as terrorism

British police shot dead a man who stabbed two people on a busy street in south London on Feb. 3 in what officials described as a terrorist incident believed to be related to Islamist militancy.

Police said in a statement that a hoax device was found strapped to the body of the man killed by armed officers.

One man was being treated for life-threatening injuries after being stabbed, a woman suffered less serious wounds and another woman was hurt by glass after an officer fired his weapon, the statement from London's Metropolitan Police said.

Some witnesses said the man had been armed with a machete and one said he was wearing silver canisters on his chest.

Footage filmed on the high street in the Streatham district of south London showed two men in plain clothes - one in a hoodie and one with a police baseball cap - pointing their guns at a body on the pavement nearby.

"The incident was quickly declared as a terrorist incident and we believe it to be Islamist-related," said Lucy D'Orsi, deputy assistance commissioner in the Metropolitan Police.

Police said the situation had been contained.

Chris Wells was in a shop in Streatham with his daughter when they heard three gunshots outside.

"People just came running in screaming and upset, shouting about a gun. We ran to the back of the shop and were locked in," he told Reuters.

"We tried to leave to get away and I saw a man in a hoodie with a gun, which I now know was a plainclothes officer," he said. "And another officer shouted at us to get back inside because there was a bomb threat."

Sky News said it understood that the man shot dead was "under active police surveillance" and had been released from prison in January.

"An investigation is...