Theresa May has announced the Government’s emergency Cobra committee will meet this afternoon to discuss the Parsons Green terror attack.
The Prime Minister said her thoughts were with those injured and praised the emergency services for their response.
Mrs May is returning from her Maidenhead constituency to chair the committee meeting at 1pm and is expected to speak publicly after.
Mrs May tweeted: ‘My thoughts are with those injured at Parsons Green and emergency services who are responding bravely to this terrorist incident.’
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan appealed for calm, saying London ‘will never be intimidated or defeated by terrorism’.
Theresa May (pictured in Downing Street last night) has announced the Government’s emergency Cobra committee will meet to discuss the Parsons Green terror attack
A photograph of the flaming white bucket taken just after it exploded around 8.20am shows a number of wires protruding out of the top and on to the train carriage floor
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: ‘Once more people going about their everyday lives have been targeted in a callous and indiscriminate way.
‘My thoughts are with all those injured and affected.
‘The police and emergency services were quickly on the scene and I would like to pay tribute again to their professionalism and tireless commitment.
‘I am receiving regular updates on what is an ongoing and active investigation.
‘I would urge Londoners to remain alert and assist the police and emergency services as much as they can.’
An explosion on a packed London Underground train at Parsons Green today is officially being treated as terrorism.
The attack is the fifth major incident in Britain this year – after the Westminster attack in March, the Manchester bombing in May, the London Bridge attack in June and the Finsbury Park attack in June.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command have launched an investigation following the explosion in west London during the Friday morning rush hour.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd (pictured in Downing Street on Tuesday) said the terrorist had targeted ordinary Londoners in a ‘callous and indiscriminate way’
The force said police were called at approximately 8.20am to Parsons Green Underground Station ‘following reports of a fire on the train’.
The Met said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism policing, ‘has declared it a terrorist incident’, adding: ‘At present we are aware of a number of people who have suffered injuries.’
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says people should ‘keep calm and go about their normal lives’ as emergency services respond to an incident at a London subway station.
Mr Johnson says it would be ‘wrong to speculate,’ and that police and transit authorities ‘are on it.’
Armed Police, paramedics and firefighters were all said to be at the west London station within five minutes of the explosion
There is terror and panic at the station this morning, with police officers consoling members of the public
Fulham fitness instructor Niyi Shokunbi, 24, was in the next carriage the moment the bomb went off.
He told MailOnline: ‘I have never seen anything like it it was like something out of a film. I thought t was an acid attack. It happened like bang within ten seconds, i just wanted to run.
‘I went towards the carriage where the bomb went off a woman said you don’t want to go in there. I saw a little boy with scratches on his face crying for his brother. A woman was bleeding. Everyone was running. I’ve never seen anything like it.’
People suffered burns from the explosion and others were hurt in the crush as people fled.
Rob Partinton, 24, from Harrow told MailOnline: ‘We were literally about two minutes from Parsons Green when the train suddenly stopped.
‘I saw people running on the track opposite direction towards Fulham Broadway, I could hear no screams but a lot of people running. We’ve been held at the station for the last half an hour. It’s pretty busy, a lot of police around and police dogs.’