Police name London attacker
London Metropolitan Police say Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old British man, carried out Wednesday’s terrorist attack in London.
The agency announced Thursday in a statement that Masood was not the subject of any investigations before the deadly assault.
Masood was known by several other aliases, police said they had no intelligence about his intent to commit terrorist acts.
Four people, including Masood and a police officer, died in the attack. Dozens other were injured near the Palace of Westminster when Masood drove a car into a crowd of pedestrians, officials said.
Mark Rowley, Britain’s top counterterrorism law enforcement official, said he then tried to enter the Parliament complex and fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot and killed by authorities.
{mosads}Thursday’s statement said Masood was most recently living in the West Midlands, U.K. He was known to police for several past convictions including assaults, grievous bodily harm, possession of offensive weapons and public order offenses.
Masood’s first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage.
Masood’s most recent conviction was in December 2003 for possession of a knife, they said. He had no convictions for terrorism-related offenses.
London Metropolitan Police Service Commander B.J. Harrison said during a news conference that a “full counterterrorism investigation” is underway.
Reports emerged Thursday that at least seven people at six different addresses in Birmingham and London were arrested in anti-terror raids.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria claimed Thursday that the attacker was a “soldier” acting on its behalf.
Kurt Cochran, a Utah man, was killed during Wednesday’s attack while his wife, Melissa, was injured.
President Trump later that day expressed condolences to Cochran’s family, calling him a “great American.”
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