London attacker identified as UK-born Khalid Masood

Eight arrested on suspicion of terror acts

LONDON: The attacker who killed three people near Parliament in London before being shot dead was named on Thursday as a 52-year-old British-born man, Khalid Masood, who was once investigated by MI5 intelligence officers over concerns about violent extremism.

Meanwhile, the police arrested eight people and were being investigated "on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts," the police said in a statement. The eight included two women and five men arrested at three addresses in Birmingham and a woman arrested in east London, the statement said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its Amaq news agency, but did not name Masood and gave no details. It was not clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the group.

Police said Masood was born in the county of Kent in southeast England and was most recently living in the West Midlands region of central England. "Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," the Metropolitan Police said.

"However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences." Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament that the attacker had once been investigated by the MI5 intelligence agency over concerns about violent extremism, but was a peripheral figure.

Police said Masood had never been convicted of a terrorism offence. His first conviction was in 1983 for criminal damage and his last one was in December 2003 for possession of a knife. During five minutes of mayhem in the heart of London on Wednesday, Masood sped across Westminster Bridge in a car, ploughing into pedestrians.

He then ran through the gates of the nearby Parliament building and fatally stabbed an unarmed policeman before being shot dead. The Enterprise rental car company said the vehicle used in the attack had been rented from its Spring Hill branch in Birmingham, which is located in the West Midlands.

About 40 people were injured in the attack, of whom 29 remain in hospital, seven in critical condition. May visited some of the wounded in hospital on Thursday, her spokesman said. Speaking at the United Nations in New York, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Internet providers and social media networks to do more to curb extremist propaganda. "They’ve got to look at the stuff that’s going up on their sites, they’ve got to take steps to invigilate it, to take it down where they can," he said.