Suspect arrested for attempted murder

LONDON: A 29-year-old man detained over a suspected terrorist attack outside Parliament here has been further arrested for attempted murder, police said yesterday.

He had initially been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences after he appeared deliberately to drive his car at cyclists and pedestrians before ramming it into barriers outside the parliament building on Tuesday morning.

Police confirmed media reports that the man was a Briton originally from Sudan. Media reports said he is from Birmingham. He has been named by a security source as Salih Khater.

“We are satisfied that we know the identity of the arrested man,” police said. “The priority of the investigation team continues to be to understand the motivation behind this incident.”

Top police counterterrorism officer Neil Basu said the suspect was not known to intelligence agencies, but The Times reported that he was known to police.

The paper said Khater was 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 Salih was the son of sorghum farmers and moved to Britain about five years ago to earn money to help his family.

The member of parliament for the Hall Green area of Birmingham, Roger Godsiff, tweeted that the suspect was believed to have been from his area.

On Tuesday, police said they were carrying out searches at two addresses in the city, as well as an address in nearby Nottingham.

Mayor Sadiq Khan yesterday said he backed the idea of banning vehicles from parts of the area of the attack.