IS claims credit for terror attack
PM defiant against assault on parliament
LONDON: The Islamic State group claimed responsibility yesterday for an attack by a man who ploughed an SUV into pedestrians on a crowded London bridge and then stabbed a police officer to death on the grounds of Britain’s parliament.
The attacker was born in Britain and known to authorities who had once investigated him for links to religious extremism, British Prime Minister Theresa May said yesterday in a sweeping speech in which she also encouraged Britons to go about their lives normally.
The IS said through its Amaq news agency that the attacker was a soldier of the IS who “carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition” of countries fighting the IS in Syria and Iraq.
In addition to the police officer and the attacker, who was shot by police, two people died on Westminster Bridge and at least 29 others were injured, seven critically.
British officials did not release the attacker’s identity or confirm a link with the IS group, though Ms May did say it would be wrong to describe the attack as “Islamic” extremism. “It is Islamist terrorism,” she said. “It is a perversion of a great faith.”
The IS group has been responsible for numerous bloody attacks around the globe and has specifically called for Western followers to carry out this kind of attack in their own countries, though the group has also claimed attacks it was later found to have no clear links to.
Ms May set an unyielding tone yesterday in a sweeping statement before the House of Commons. While she honoured the police, she also saluted the actions of millions of people who went about their lives as normal, describing it as proof that the act of terror failed.
“As I speak millions will be boarding trains and airplanes to travel to London, and to see for themselves the greatest city on Earth,” she told the House of Commons. “It is in these actions — millions of acts of normality — that we find the best response to terrorism — a response that denies our enemies their victory, that refuses to let them win, that shows we will never give in.”
Police believe the man acted alone and there is no reason to believe “imminent further attacks” are planned, she said.
Mayor Sadiq Khan called for Londoners to attend a candlelit vigil in Trafalgar Square last night in solidarity with the victims and their families and to show that the city remains united.
No Thais were harmed in the attack, Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai confirmed yesterday. “We are aware that this kind of incident can happen anywhere and everyone must be aware and vigilant since there is always a risk,” Mr Don said.
Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) commissioner Sanit Mahathavorn vowed to boost security for British nationals in Thailand and assigned Pol Maj Gen Mongkol Arunno, chief of the MPB’s Division 5, to visit the British embassy to discuss security at the compound. Pol Lt Gen Sanit said he also spoke to an aide of the UK ambassador to Thailand to express his condolences over the attack.
Meanwhile, Belgian police arrested a man yesterday after he tried to drive into a crowd at high-speed in a shopping area in Antwerp, a police chief said.
LONDON: British security services had once investigated the terrorist behind the worst attack on London in more than a decade, Prime Minister Theresa May said as parliament resumed its work following Wednesday’s deadly assault.
The British-born attacker was on the security radar some years ago but he “was not part of the current intelligence picture” and the authorities had no prior intelligence about this suspected Islamist plot, Ms May told lawmakers.
“We are not afraid and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism,” Ms May said yesterday, adding the security level would remain severe.
The Islamic State group said the attacker was its “soldier”, according to the Amaq propaganda agency linked to the jihadist organisation.
At least four people were killed in the attack on Westminster, including the assailant and the police officer he stabbed. There were also 29 people injured and in hospital.
Some members of parliament sat silently in tears as Ms May set out what the authorities know about the attack to a sombre House of Commons. Police and MI5, Britain’s domestic spy agency, believe they know the identity of the attacker, but are keeping the information secret while the security operation unfolds.
Eight people were arrested overnight after police raided six addresses in Birmingham and London, Ms May said. The focus is likely to turn to whether anything could have been done to prevent the attack.
Ms May insisted the security services had no prior knowledge of the plot, describing the terrorist — who is believed to have acted alone — as a “peripheral figure.”
“What I can confirm is that the man was British born and that — some years ago — he was once investigated in relation to concerns about violent extremism,” Ms May said. “The case is historic — he was not part of the current intelligence picture. There was no prior intelligence of his intent — or of the plot. Intensive investigations continue.”
The attack unfolded on Wednesday across Westminster Bridge in the shadow of Big Ben, a towering landmark standing over Britain’s Houses of Parliament. The attacker’s car struck pedestrians on the bridge before crashing into the railings surrounding the heavily guarded Houses of Parliament.
The assailant then ran through the gates brandishing a knife and stabbed a 48-yearold policeman to death before being shot dead by another officer. Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer Mark Rowley said the four victims included the policeman, previously named as PC Keith Palmer, and three members of the public.
Ms May said 12 Britons, three French, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks required hospital treatment. Police said seven of the 29 who are hospitalised are in critical condition. A Portuguese man was hurt, the country’s government said, while a Romanian woman who was rescued from the River Thames following the incident, was in critical condition last night after surgery.
Britain’s plan to begin the formal process of leaving the European Union on March 29 will not be delayed by an attack on parliament which left four people dead, Ms May’s spokesman said yesterday. Queen Elizabeth II postponed her appearance to open the new headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police, where the force’s flag was flown at half-mast following the incident.
The attack came a year to the day after IS jihadists killed 32 people in twin bomb attacks in Brussels and after a series of deadly assaults in Europe that had hitherto spared Britain.
Parliament was locked down for several hours and hundreds of lawmakers and visitors were later evacuated to nearby Westminster Abbey and the Metropolitan Police headquarters.
An air ambulance flew in and police cordoned off a large area, while tourists on the London Eye, a popular visitor attraction, were stuck up to 135m in the air for more than an hour during the incident. “I saw three bodies lying on the ground and a whole lot of police. It was pretty terrifying,” said Jack Hutchinson, 16, from the United States, who was stranded on the observation wheel with his parents.
Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood, whose brother Jonathan was killed in the 2002 Bali bombing, was pictured with his face smeared with blood helping to give first aid to the fatally wounded police officer.
The worst previous attack in London was in 2005 when four British suicide bombers inspired by al-Qaeda attacked the transport system, killing 52 people.
Britain’s allies reacted with shock and vowed to stand with London in the fight against terror. Lights on the Eiffel Tower in Paris were switched off at midnight in solidarity with victims of the attack. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault was due to travel to London yesterday to visit three French pupils who were among those hurt.
The world’s largest body of Islamic nations and the Saudi king also condemned the attack. Yousef Bin Ahmad AlOthaimeen, who heads the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, said acts of terrorism contradict the fundamentals of Islam. The OIC is comprised of 57 Muslim-majority countries.