Westminster attack ‘poor copycat’ raid
A terror suspect is believed to have travelled through the night from Birmingham to stake out Westminster for more than an hour and a half before mowing down cyclists outside the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday, local time.
The 29-year-old man, believed to be of Sudanese origin, waited until the morning rush hour before swerving on to the wrong side of the road and hitting cyclists who were waiting at traffic lights, then crashed into barriers outside the entrance to the House of Lords.
The man, who has British nationality, had driven from his home in Birmingham, sparking suggestions that it was an attempted ‘‘copycat’’ attack to that perpetrated by Khalid Masood a year earlier which killed six people.
Masood had lived just 10 minutes from the suspect’s home in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham.
Security services will be keen to establish whether there are any connections between the pair.
Three cyclists were injured in the attack. Two had required hospital treatment but had been released.
British counter-terrorism police carried out three searches in central England.
Police say the driver was arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act. He is currently being questioned at a south London police station.
It was suggested that the attacker, who was known to have been in Westminster since 6am, may have been on a reconnaissance mission and was spooked into taking immediate action at 7.37am when an ambulance pulled up behind him with sirens blazing.
Scotland Yard said that the man was not known to counter-terror police or MI5, but sources suggested that he was known to West Midlands Police.
Police were facing questions over a white van that was seen behind the man’s Ford Fiesta and filmed following it on to the wrong side of the road before stopping near the point where it crashed into barriers. Another van was also seen stopping on the wrong side of the road in the seconds after the crash.
Both police and security sources insisted that the driver was not being followed, but yesterday confirmed an unmarked police van was in the area on unrelated matters and stopped after the crash.
The Government made an apparent defence of the security services by releasing figures showing there has been a huge rise in suspected terror plots, with live investigations rising from ‘‘more than 500’’ in March to 676 by the end of June.
In a statement from her holiday in Switzerland, Prime Minister Theresa May said: ‘‘For the second time in as many years the home of our democracy, which is a potent symbol of our precious values of tolerance and freedom, has witnessed terrible scenes just yards from its door.
‘‘The threat to the United Kingdom from terrorism remains severe. I would urge the public to remain vigilant, but also to come together and carry on as normal.’’
Chris Phillips, former head of the National Counter Terrorism Security Office, said the attack seemed to be a ‘‘very poor copycat’’ of Masood’s attack on March 22 last year and pointed out police found no weapons in the car. – Telegraph Group