London: A British man accused of a terror attack after driving into a barrier protecting the Houses of Parliament faces investigation for attempted murder, police said on Wednesday. Three people were injured when the 29-year-old, named by media as Salih Khater, drove over a pavement and into cyclists before crashing into the barrier on Tuesday morning.
Police said the man, a British national originally from Sudan, was initially arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences but revealed he had been “further arrested for attempted murder”.
Two of the injured victims — a man and a woman — were taken to hospital but have now been discharged. The third was treated at the scene.
The incident had disturbing parallels with an attack last year, when a man drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing outside parliament and running inside.
Khalid Masood fatally stabbed a police officer guarding parliament — one of five people killed that day —before being himself shot dead.
The man involved in Tuesday’s incident was believed to be from Birmingham, according to his local MP — the same English city where Masood also lived.
Police searched two addresses in Birmingham on Tuesday and were at a third address on Wednesday. Another location in nearby Nottingham was also searched.
Top police counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu said on Tuesday that the suspect was not believed to be known to intelligence agencies, but The Times reported he was known to police.
The paper reported that Khater is a shop manager in Birmingham and had studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology, citing his Facebook page.
Abubakr Ibrahim, a childhood friend, told the paper: “He is not a terrorist. I have known him since childhood. He is a good man.”
He said Khater was the son of sorghum farmers, and had moved to Britain about five years ago in order to earn money to help his family. — AFP
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