Xi sends his condolences to queen

He condemns London attack and says terrorism is common enemy

President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Thursday to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II following the terror attack in London that left four dead, including the attacker.

In the message to the queen, the president strongly condemned the attack, which targeted Britons and foreign nationals alike, and he offered his profound condolences and sincere sympathy to families and loved ones of those killed and injured.

Xi said terrorism is the common enemy of the international community and China is firmly opposed to terrorism of any kind.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, who was rushed to safety from the House of Commons as the attack unfolded, told Parliament on Thursday that the incident on Wednesday was an attack on free people everywhere, and she thanked friends around the world who have said they stand by the UK.

British police made eight arrests on Thursday in connection with the attack, during raids on six locations in London and Britain’s secondbiggest city, Birmingham. The assailant was fatally shot after he ran over dozens of pedestrians with his car before stabbing a police officer to death as he tried to enter Parliament.

May said the British-born attacker had been investigated by intelligence services several years ago but not recently. She gave no more details.

The Islamic State group said on Thursday that the attack outside Parliament in London was carried out by one of its “soldiers”.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said on Thursday that the attacker “carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition”, referring to the group of countries fighting the IS.

Meanwhile, Premier Li Keqiang, who is currently on a trip to Australia, said on Thursday that he had sent his condolences to Prime Minister May, expressing a strong condemnation of the attack.

Michael Fallon, the UK

defense minister, told the BBC that the attacker was believed to have been an Islamist extremist, but the investigation continued. He said Parliament and all aspects of life in London were continuing as normal on Thursday.

Britain has been on high alert for a terrorist attack for several years. Its security services monitor about 3,000 individuals, many of whom have fought in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya or Yemen.

The security services will track down all of the assailant’s associates and those he communicated with and check on the places he visited before the attack.

Officials said they believed he acted alone but said they want to find out if he was inspired by communications from abroad.

They are particularly focused on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and different branches of al-Qaida.

The police officer who was killed was identified as Police Constable Keith Palmer, a 48-year-old father of two.

Aysha Frade, 43, a mother of two, who worked as a teacher in London but came from the Spanish town of Betanzos, Galicia, was killed on Westminster Bridge.

The third victim and the assailant were not yet identified.

The injured included 12 Britons, three French schoolchildren, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks and one person each from China, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Three off-duty police officers were hurt, two of them seriously.

Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed that a Chinese tourist suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Wednesday’s incident was the latest in a series of attacks committed for political and religious reasons in Britain. Most were committed by Islamists, but at least two murders were carried out by far-right extremists, including the killing of Jo Cox, a member of Parliament who was killed last year before the referendum on Britain’s exit from the European Union.