In what is an obvious case of terrorist attack, a man deliberately drove a car into London pedestrians and cyclists, Tuesday, before ramming it into barriers outside the British parliament.
Police confirmed that the action appeared to be the second terrorist attack at the building in just under 18 months.Three people were injured.
Armed detectives later arrested the driver, a 29-year-old British citizen, after he tried to resist arrest, the British police counter-terrorism chief said.
[penci_blockquote style=”style-2″ align=”none” author=””]A similar incident occurred in March 2017, when a 52 –year-old man, Khalid Masood, killed four people on nearby Westminster Bridge and stabbed an unarmed police officer to death in the grounds of parliament before being shot dead.[/penci_blockquote]
The London Assistant Commissioner, Neil Basu told newsmen; “Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident,”
A similar incident occurred in March 2017, when a 52 –year-old man, Khalid Masood, killed four people on nearby Westminster Bridge and stabbed an unarmed police officer to death in the grounds of parliament before being shot dead.
It was the first of five attacks in Britain last year that police designated as terrorism, three of which used vehicles as weapons.
Basu said the suspect had not been formally identified, but was not believed to be known to security forces. Britain’s security minister Ben Wallace said he was a British citizen who “came from another country originally”.
The media, citing unnamed sources, said the man was from the Birmingham area and known to police, although not to intelligence or counter-terrorism agencies.
Police later searched three addresses, two in Birmingham and one in Nottingham, central England.
The Assistant Commissioner said there were currently no other suspects from the scene of the incident, and no indications of further danger.
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Police deployed plain clothes and uniformed officers to the area trained to spot minute signs of anxiety that can be a sign of criminal or terrorist intent.
According to the Police, a silver Ford Fiesta had driven through a group of cyclists and pedestrians during the morning rush hour before hitting a barrier in front of the Houses of Parliament at 7:37 a.m.
Video footage showed the vehicle making an illegal turn before veering across the road and into a security lane leading to parliament before smashing into the protective barrier as two police officers jumped to safety.