Updated at 9.51 pm  on Sunday with new attack in Belgium

Police in London and Ghent, Belgium on Sunday shot a man and a woman respectively after stabbing attacks on random pedestrians. 

In London, British police shot dead a man in south London after three people were injured, one of them seriously, in what detectives called a "terrorist-related" incident.

An eye-witness described seeing a man "with a machete and silver canisters on his chest" fleeing from police before they opened fire.

The shooting, on a busy street packed with Sunday shoppers, came just over two months after a convicted terrorist on early release from prison was shot dead by police on London Bridge after he stabbed two people to death.

The government responded by announcing longer sentences for terrorism offences, an end to early release and an increase in the counter-terrorism police budget in the coming financial year.

The Metropolitan Police said the man in Sunday's incident died at around 2 pm on Streatham High Road, a busy thoroughfare lined with shops in a residential neighbourhood.

Reacting to the attack, Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked the emergency services for their response. "My thoughts are with the injured and all those affected," he said,

London Mayor Sadiq Khan added: "Terrorists seek to divide us and to destroy our way of life -- here in London we will never let them succeed."

- 'Machete, silver canisters' - 

AFP reporters at the scene said the high street was blocked off with police tape, with buses backed up outside the cordon, as uniformed police officers kept the public away.

Helicopters circled overhead.

The Met said one of the injured people was "at hospital in a life-threatening condition. We are in the process of informing their family".

It added: "A second victim was treated for minor injuries at the scene before being taken to hospital. A third victim has been taken to hospital –- their condition is not life-threatening."

The force said earlier: "The circumstances are being assessed; the incident has been declared as terrorist-related," the Met force said.

"We can confirm that the man shot by police at around 2:00 pm today in #Streatham High Road has been pronounced dead."

One eye-witness, who asked not to be identified, told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency that he saw the dramatic events unfold.

"I saw a man with a machete and silver canisters on his chest being chased by what I assume was an undercover police officer -- as they were in civilian clothing," he said.

"The man was then shot. I think I heard three gun shots but I can't quite remember."

The eye-witness said he then sheltered in a library as other passers-by ran into nearby stores.

- Armed officers -

Unverified footage posted to social media purporting to capture some of the incident showed armed police officers surrounding a man lying on the ground on Streatham High Road.

They then abruptly moved away, urging onlookers to move back, as other emergency vehicles arrived at the scene.

Another eye-witness who gave first aid to one of the victims told LBC radio he heard what he thought was a car backfiring, then two, possibly three armed police officers.

"I didn't realise at the time I would be swept up in a terrorist incident. I thought this was someone who had shoplifted or people larking around," he added.

He used a blanket on one of the injured victims as a compress on their wounds, while first-aid equipment was brought from a nearby pharmacy, he said.

Unverified footage posted to social media purporting to capture some of the incident showed armed police officers surrounding a man lying on the ground on Streatham High Road.

They then abruptly moved away, urging onlookers to move back, fearing an explosive device in canisters strapped to the man's chest.

The canisters were later found to be fake.

Britain has seen a spate of terrorist attacks in recent years.

In the most recent incident on November 29, 2019, convicted terrorist Usman Khan killed two people before being shot dead by police on London Bridge. 

Knife attack in Belgium

In Belgium, a woman was shot in the hand by police in the city of Ghent after attacking two pedestrians, local media reported.

According to Het Laatste Nieuws, the victims  were taken to hospital with knife wounds but their lives were not in danger.

A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office told AFP that Belgian police and the public prosecutor's office of East Flanders were investigating the event.

"There is currently no indication that the incident that took place in Ghent was of a terrorist nature," the office said.

The street, located in northwest of the Dutch-speaking canal city, was closed on Sunday evening with large numbers of police and rescue services at the scene, media said.

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