Frightened residents have described their shock after police shot a woman at a house in north London in a series of anti-terror raids.

Armed officers swarmed around a terraced property in Harlesden Road, Willesden, and neighbours heard a number of gunshots being fired.

One young woman, who did not want to be named, said: "It was quite dramatic. I didn't realise what was happening - I heard shooting and saw loads of police.

"We were kept inside our house, everything was cordoned off, they didn't let anyone come out of their houses.

"There were quite a few shots - at least six. At the beginning I didn't know what it was but after three or four we realised and then saw the police."

Another resident, an elderly woman who also did not want to be identified, said she was terrified when she heard loud bangs.

"I heard the police banging on someone's house; it was quite frightening hearing the shots fired," she added.

"There was a whole gang of them, maybe about 14 police all hanging around, they had guns.

"They were banging on some house and shouting.

"I was too frightened to go and see what was happening, I just wanted to keep away from the window."

One neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said he heard three gunshots and described seeing a "squad" of armed police descend on the street.

Having gone to the flat upstairs to watch the drama unfold, the man said he saw armed officers running up the street and surrounding the property in question.

"They brought down a woman, a lady, in a black scarf, a black burka," he told the Press Association.

"Then on the road, close to our house, we saw she had been shot - the paramedics and ambulances that were there, they stripped off her clothing to get access to the wounded areas."

Questioned about her injuries, he said the woman had been carried out of the house on a stretcher, and that she had bandages on her left arm and on the left side of her stomach.

He said the family who live at the property are from Somalia.

He added that he has lived in the residential street for 10 years, and the incident was "quite shocking" and had left his children "frightened".

The man described seeing seven police vehicles parked in the road behind his property before the raid took place, and that it all happened between 6pm and 7pm.

A mother-of-one who lived next door to the raided house, who gave her name only as Alexandra, said she heard a woman "screaming" shortly after the armed police arrived.

She said she thought the police were coming through her door, and saw officers with "gas masks and snipers".

"We were just about to go shopping until we heard 'bang, bang, bang, bang', went to the window and just saw a number of armed police just there with their guns pointing at our next-door neighbour's window.

"We were really worried - I was screaming to my partner 'Armed police is here, oh my god, armed police' and then again we heard extra bangs, more bangs, so we assumed that's when they were breaking the doors or something.

"They were in the garden - they were everywhere. They swarmed the whole house practically. I wasn't even allowed in my garden - they were telling me '(There's) armed police, go inside'.

"At that point I went to the window just to see what was happening. (I) couldn't really see anything until about after 15 minutes I heard the lady really screaming so we were trying to see if we could see anyone being brought out but we couldn't - my partner thought he saw someone being carried."

She said the woman was "screaming really loud" and described her neighbours as a "standard Muslim couple" of whom she "never suspected anything at all".

"They were a young religious couple ... in their 20s.

"They used to wear their Muslim outfit, for example, but she wasn't covered like completely - she used to wear the whole black thing but you could see her face."

She said police were still in her neighbour's garden on Friday morning following the attack at around 6.55pm on Thursday evening.

Alex Paton, 50, who also lives in Harlesden Road, said: "Five minutes after it happened I saw the ambulance take off and stuff and wondered what the hell it was."

He said he saw a woman "getting all cuffed up and put in a white suit", and described seeing "all sorts of people running around - there was coppers and masked men with guns and there was a guy running down the road with a gas mask and a machine gun".

"It was like 'Whoa - this is serious'."

Mr Paton added: "It was pretty scary ... I walked out to talk to a copper and I just got shouted at 'Get back in, get back in'."

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."

She said some police had "big guns" which was "quite alarming - it's just abnormal residential street".

"I'm shocked but not surprised because we do live in a mixed community and that's why I love living here but I guess with that comes some undesirable elements potentially. It's a wake-up call to what we may be living next door to... it was quite upsetting for my daughter."

Ruth Haile, who also lives in the road, said she heard shots and saw an injured woman being treated.

She told the Press Association she saw a Muslim woman with "brown skin" on the ground with a chest injury being treated by "five or six nurses".

"She shouted 'Don't touch me, my body, don't touch my dress'."

Ms Haile also said she saw another man and woman being arrested.

A woman who lives nearby said she had seen two men in a car on Thursday morning who she thought could have been "watching what was going on".

Clare Wilson, 44, said: "There was just a blue car with two white guys sat in it - there until at least 1pm ... from about 9.30am.

"It just made me look when you think 'Oh, are they watching somebody?' because they're just sat there ... it was just weird."