A major fire broke out on Wednesday, June 14, at the Grenfell Tower, a residential high-rise building on the Lancaster West Estate in London.

10:10 am IST: According to latest reports the fire started on the fourth floor.

10:03 am IST: Here’s a look at the before and after photos of 27-storey Grenfell Tower, and videos of horrifying incident.

10:00 am IST: Jody Martin, a resident of a nearby buiiding told BBC that many people are feared dead.

9:58 am IST: The latest footage shared online shows frantic scenes outside the burnt-out building. An hour after emergency crews arrived at the spot, there’s still chaos. “People in night clothes, no shoes, crying, looking for family,” the Guardian cited eyewitnesses as saying.

9:55 am IST: Consultants have been brought in to discuss whether the building will stand or not.

9:50 am IST: “The building is pretty much burned out. It is gutted … I have never seen anything like it, the smell, the burning, the heat is extraordinary,” an eyewitness was quoted by the Telegraph

9:45 am IST: The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared the fire a “major incident”.

9:41 am IST: Residents from the Barandon Walk and Tesserton Walk buildings close to the tower on fire are currently being evacuated.

9:40 am IST: Dozens of firefighters and hundreds of crew and around 40 ambulances are present at the scene. However, falling debris fromthe building makes rescue work difficult.

9:35 am IST: The police has staryed evacuating the residents of the nearby buildings.

9:32 am IST:  People seen jumping off the top floor and waving from windows. Eyewitness account – “He was screaming help, help, help but no one helped. He dashed a mattress out of the window. He was literally on fire and jumped.” A woman with a child was also seen seeking help from the windows.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday granted the Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said, a move that could lead to the deployment of thousands more soldiers.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told AFP that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis can now directly adjust troop numbers, though the official would not confirm whether a new .

“force management level” — currently at around 8,400 — had been finalized.

“The White House has done the same that it did with Iraq and Syria, which is to grant the secretary of defense the authority to set troop levels,” the official said, referring to recent adjustments Mr. Trump has approved for the fight against the Islamic State group in those two countries.

Under Barack Obama, troop levels in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were closely managed by the White House and commanders complained they felt shackled by the strictures.

The development came just hours after Mr. Mattis gave lengthy testimony to lawmakers, some of whom were exasperated at how long it has taken for Mr. Trump to come up with a new strategy in Afghanistan.

The official said the final decision to give Mr. Mattis the power to adjust troop levels actually came during his testimony, at which he said America still is “not winning” in Afghanistan.

The “Taliban had a good year last year, they are trying to have a good one this year,” Mr. Mattis told the Senate Armed Services Committee at a hearing about the Pentagon’s budget.

“Right now, I believe the enemy is surging.”

Mr. Mattis’s latest assessment comes nearly 16 years after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and amid a war that continues to claim the lives of U.S. troops each year — and those of thousands of local forces and civilians.

U.S. military commanders, who saw fragile security gains eroded under Obama-era troop drawdowns, have been pushing for a new strategy that could see thousands of additional soldiers deploy to Afghanistan to help train and advise beleaguered Afghan partners.

Media reports have said Mr. Mattis is considering asking for 3,000 to 5,000 additional U.S. and NATO troops, but the defense chief has said little on the matter.

In February, General John Nicholson, who commands NATO forces in Afghanistan, warned that he needs “a few thousand” more troops to reverse what he called a stalemate.

Despite months of expectation that a full Afghanistan strategy announcement is imminent, Mr. Mattis said the new plans not be ready before mid-July.

Republican Senator John McCain, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, voiced his “palpable” frustration.

“We’re now six months into this administration, we still haven’t got a strategy for Afghanistan,” Mr. McCain said, noting it was difficult to get behind an Afghanistan budget request without knowing what the plan is.

“We know what the strategy was for the last eight years: Don’t lose. That hasn’t worked.”

Mr. Mattis acknowledged the reality on the ground.

“We are not winning in Afghanistan right now. We will correct this as soon as possible,” he said.

The defence chief, who was a Marine combat commander in Afghanistan at the start of the war, stressed America must not walk away from the country and suggested a long-term residual U.S. force needs to remain to help the Afghan army maintain a baseline of security.

“It’s going to be an era of frequent skirmishing and it’s going to require a change in our approach from the last several years if we’re to get it to that position,” Mr. Mattis said.

The Afghan conflict is the longest in American history, with US-led NATO troops at war there since 2001, after the ousting of the Taliban regime just months after the September 11 terror attacks in the United States.

The ongoing security crisis has seen not just the Taliban gain ground, but also the emergence of other groups such as a local Islamic State affiliate.

On Saturday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an insider attack in which an Afghan commando turned his weapon on American troops, killing three and wounding another.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan number about 8,400 on Wednesday, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, who mainly serve in a training and advisory capacity.