A Metropolitan police officer stands guard at the scene of a “terrorist incident” near the UK Parliament. (Photo: Reuters)
BREAKING: The man responsible for the terrorist attack in London near the UK Parliament has been identified as 52-year-old Khalid Masood. He was born in Kent and was most recently living in West Midlands.
Earlier Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed the man behind the terrorist attack at the UK Parliament was previously investigated for Islamic extremism.
Now, Scotland Yard says he had previous convictions for violence, including possession of offensive weapons, convictions for assaults and public order offenses.
“What I can confirm is that the man was British-born and that some years ago he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism,” Prime Minister May said in a statement to the UK Parliament. “He was a peripheral figure. He was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent or of the plot.”
The terror attack took place on the first anniversary of the attacks on Brussels in Belgium.
Police arrested eight people raiding six separate locations in London and Birmingham during the investigation following Wednesday’s terrorist attack that May said was inspired by a warped Islamist ideology.
Masood’s vehicle mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before the car crashed near the UK Parliament, Emerging from the vehicle armed with a knife, he went on the attack and tried to enter the government building where lawmakers were in session. He proceeded to stab a police officer and was shot on the grounds outside the UK Parliament.
Mr. Rowley said the 48-year-old police officer fatally wounded in his brave defense of the public was Keith Palmer.
Prime Minister May said the casualties included 12 Britons, three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Chinese, one American and two Greeks. Two of the three French were high-school students aged 15 and 16, who were on a school trip to London with fellow students from Brittany.
Mark Rowley, a top antiterrorism officer for the London Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard), revised the death toll in the attack down by one, saying two civilians — a woman in her 40s and a man in his 50s — were killed, along with a police officer and the attacker.
“Greater clarity is now developing regarding the casualty figures as we have now collated information from the public and five hospitals,” Rowley said Thursday.
He also said 29 people were wounded, including seven who remained in critical condition on Thursday. That toll was also significantly lower than reported the previous day in the wake of the attack, when Rowley said 40 people were injured.
