Man behind UK parliament attack accused of attempted murder

LONDON: A British man accused of a terror attack after driving into a barrier protecting the Houses of Parliament faces investigation for attempted murder, police said Wednesday. Three people were injured when the 29-year-old, named by media as Salih Khater, drove over a pavement and into cyclists before crashing into the barrier on Tuesday morning. Police said the man, a British national originally from Sudan, was initially arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences but revealed he had been “further arrested for attempted murder”. Two of the injured victims — a man and a woman — were taken to hospital but have now been discharged. The third was treated at the scene. The incident had disturbing parallels with an attack last year, when a man drove his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing outside parliament and running inside. Khalid Masood fatally stabbed a police officer guarding parliament — one of five people killed that day — before being himself shot dead. The man involved in Tuesday’s incident was believed to be from Birmingham, according to his local MP — the same English city where Masood also lived. Police searched two addresses in Birmingham on Tuesday and were at a third address on Wednesday. Another location in nearby Nottingham was also searched.