Police knew suspect
A SUDANESE immigrant known to police is thought to be behind another terror attack on Westminster after ploughing his car into 15 cyclists.
The man, named last night by police as Salih Khater, careering into pedestrians and cyclists at Parliament Square, after spending the previous night cruising around London.
There were screams as the Ford Fiesta mounted the pavement and mowed people down at up to 50mph at 7.37am yesterday. In a chilling echo of Khalid Masood’s murderous rampage on Westminster 17 months ago, the driver, from Birmingham, sped towards the Houses of Parliament – narrowly missing two police officers who jumped out of his path.
Khater, 29, then smashed into a security barrier. Despite hitting at least 15 cyclists and pedestrians during rush hour, no one was killed with only one female cyclist seriously injured.
Within moments the driver, dressed in a white shirt, jeans and a black padded jacket, was dragged from the driving seat of the crumpled vehicle by armed officers.
The suspect – thought to be a lone wolf – remained calm and utterly silent, offering no resistance as he was handcuffed.
Police found no weapons or explosives. Last night it emerged Khater, who was said to be of Sudanese origin, drove from his rundown flat in Hall Green, Birmingham, to London on Monday evening. His West Midlands flat is just three miles away from where Masood had lived.
He arrived in the capital just after midnight and spent the night driving around tourist hotspots such as Tottenham Court Road between 1.25am and 5.55am.
He then spent 90 minutes driving around Whitehall and Westminster, leading to suspicions he may have been hunting for large crowds of tourists to target.
The man had not spoken a word since being arrested despite hours of questioning last night.
Officers have raided two addresses in Birmingham and one in Nottingham where the vehicle was registered, though this property was later ruled out as being linked to Khater.
Hours after the attack, Britain’s head of counter terrorism announced the suspect was not known to Scotland Yard or MI5 for any previous terrorist activity.
But last night it emerged he was an immigrant known to West Midlands police. Security minister Ben Wallace said Khater was born in another country but had been given British citizenship.
The vehicle that police say he used ‘deliberately’ as a weapon was written off by insurers last autumn and had failed an MOT as it had problems with headlights, a hand brake lever and the steering rack. But it was put back on the road and sold again eight weeks ago.
The attack was caught on CCTV showing the car swerving the wrong way down the road and veering across a pedestrian crossing through crowds of cyclists waiting at traffic lights. He hit a female cyclist who was left lying motionless in the road suffering from a suspected broken hip, while other injured cyclists lay sprawled in the road by their mangled bikes.
A man and the female cyclist were taken to hospital with nonlife threatening injuries and were later discharged.
Robert Nicholson was heading to work and waiting in a ‘safe cycling box’ near Parliament when the man struck.
He said: ‘There were about 15 cyclists there. All of a sudden, whipping round the corner – just from the traffic lights – was this small car and just rammed straight through the group of ten to 15 cyclists that were stood there.’
Kirsty Moseley, 31, of Brixton, south London, was a passenger in the first car behind the cyclists.
She said: ‘I heard a few shouts, looked up and this silver car was driving at high speed the wrong way into the cyclists.
‘ People were thrown everywhere. [He had] two hands on the steering wheel and he did not look back over his shoulder to look at the damage he’d created – he was just looking deadpan straight in front of him.’
Westminster was quickly locked down, with more than 200 officers flooding the area including police ‘super spotters’ dispatched to look for other attackers using their specialist skills to recognise when a person is displaying minute signs of anxiety.
A large cordon was initially set up but police later announced there was no threat and ruled out the possibility of further immediate attacks.
Neil Basu, the Met’s Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations, said: ‘This appears to be a deliberate act... we’re treating it as a terrorist incident.’
Home Secretary Sajid Javid last night returned to the UK after setting off with his family on a holiday abroad earlier in the day.
‘Vehicle used as a weapon’