UK marks year since Westminster attack

The assault killed five people and injured around 50

Britain was yesterday marking the one year anniversary of the terror attack on Westminster Bridge, the first in a series of Islamist assaults in the UK in 2017 that killed dozens of people and left scores injured.

On March 22 last year, Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old Briton who embraced Islam, mowed down with a car pedestrians on the bridge over the River Thames in the heart of the London, before fatally stabbing a policeman on guard outside parliament.

The attack killed five people and injured around 50, and only ended when Masood was shot dead by police.

The Daesh group claimed responsibility, but investigators have said they found no evidence of an association.

The incident mirrored truck attacks in Europe, including the 2016 Bastille Day assault in Nice that killed 86 people, and a similar attack months later on a Christmas market in Berlin that claimed 12 lives.

Further attacks

Britain endured a tumultuous period following the March 22 rampage, with four further terror attacks, including three in the capital.

“It was a sick and depraved attack on the streets of our capital, but what I remember most is the exceptional bravery of our police and security services, who risked their lives to keep us safe,” British Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Reuters ■ Emergency services workers pay their respects at Parliament Square in Westminster on the anniversary of the Westminster Bridge attack in London yesterday.