Salih Khater named as Westminster attack suspect: Man arrested after 'driving round London for hours' before mowing down cyclists

A man suspected of carrying out a terrorist attack outside the Houses of Parliament has been named as 29-year-old Sudanese immigrant Salih Khater.

Khater, who lives in Birmingham, was arrested after a silver Ford Fiesta veered across a busy road before crashing into security barriers in Westminster yesterday morning.

Khater is reported to be a fan of football and Western music. He lived in a small flat in Birmingham and described himself as a shop manager.

15 cyclists were hit in a chilling echo of Khalid Masood's deadly rampage on Westminster 17 months ago.

Scotland Yard said the attacker drove around London for hours before the crash and arrived in the capital just after midnight before the horrifying scenes unfolded at about 7.40am.

The man was not known to security services, police said last night.

This morning, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan praised the response of the police in the seconds after the car crashed into a barrier at Parliament, saying London is "one of the safest global cities in the world".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think what it shows is that the planning, the practice, the preparation, that the police, the security services, the emergency services do, should give us some confidence that we are one of the safest global cities in the world.

"I say that realising that terrorists are trying to cause damage, trying to kill people in not just London and Manchester, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Boston, New York, Istanbul and elsewhere around the world.

"We've got to carry on evolving and finding new ways to keep ourselves (safe), just like the terrorists and bad guys are finding new ways to cause us damage."

Sadiq's comments come after Donald Trump posted on Twitter: "Another terrorist attack in London...These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!"

Officers were last night searching the houses of two addresses in Birmingham and a residential property in Nottingham as part of the terror probe.

Plain-clothed police could be seen outside an address in Peveril Street in Nottingham, which was said by neighbours to be home to six Sudanese people.

There was also a police presence near the Bunna Internet Cafe on Stratford Road in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, but it was not confirmed whether that was in relation to the Westminster probe.

Birmingham Hall Green MP Roger Godsiff said it is believed the suspect had been living in his constituency.

The Labour politician tweeted: "I have told the police and security services that they have my total support in doing whatever is necessary to protect the public in London and Birmingham.

The suspect, who was said to not be co-operating with officers, was not known to security services, Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism head Neil Basu said.

He said the apparent deliberate nature of the act, the method used and the "iconic" location of Parliament led the force to treat it as a terrorist incident.

Shocking footage showed the car's approach towards Parliament, where it crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with cyclists before entering a small road and crashing into a security barrier.

Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries. One man was treated at the scene while another man and woman were taken to hospital but both were discharged by Tuesday evening.

Images posted online showed the suspect wearing a black puffer jacket being led away in handcuffs from the car as armed police officers swarmed the scene.

What we know so far

- A car collided with cyclists and pedestrians before crashing into a security barrier outside the Houses of Parliament shortly before 7.40am yesterday

- The man driving the silver Ford Fiesta, a 29-year-old UK national, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act. He is believed to have been living in the Birmingham Hall Green constituency, MP Roger Godsiff said.

- Three people were treated for injuries after the incident. One man was treated at the scene while a man and woman were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Both have since been discharged.

- The man was alone in the car and no weapons were recovered from the vehicle. Police said in the hours after the incident that the suspect was not co-operating.

- The Metropolitan Police said they were treating it as a terrorist incident because of the method used, the fact it appeared to have been deliberate and due to the "iconic location" where it happened.

- The car, which is privately owned and was first registered in March 2010 according to gov.uk, was driven from Birmingham to London on Monday night and arrived into London just after midnight on Tuesday. It was then in the area of Tottenham Court Road between 1.25am and 5.55am, before being driven around the areas of Westminster and Whitehall from 6am until the time of the incident.

- Searches were being carried out at two addresses in Birmingham and one in Nottingham on Tuesday evening. Plain-clothed police officers could be seen outside an address in Peveril Street in Nottingham, which was said by neighbours to be home to six Sudanese people. There was also a police presence near the Bunna Internet Cafe on Stratford Road in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, but it was not confirmed whether that was in relation to the Westminster probe.

There was nobody else in the vehicle and no weapons were found, police said.

Mr Basu added no other suspects have been identified and there is "no intelligence at this time of further danger" to Londoners.

The car was removed from the scene late on Tuesday night.

After a meeting of the Government's emergency Cobra committee, Theresa May urged the country to come together and carry on as normal.

In a statement the Prime Minister, who is on holiday, praised the "formidable courage" and professionalism of the emergency services who "ran towards" danger.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who also thanked the emergency services, urged people to "keep an open mind" about the incident.

Witnesses described an emotionless driver ploughing through cyclists.

Kirsty Moseley, of Brixton, south London, was a passenger in the first car behind the cyclists, who "were thrown everywhere" after being struck at what she estimated was 25mph.

Ms Moseley, 31, added: "He [the driver] wasn't shouting anything, he wasn't screaming, he didn't look crazed or out of control - he was just deadpan."

Jason Williams, from Kennington, was walking to work when he saw the crash.

"It didn't look like an accident. How do you do that by accident? It was a loud bang," the 45-year-old said.

The Houses of Parliament are surrounded with security barriers of steel and concrete.

The measures were extended in the wake of the Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017 when Khalid Masood ploughed a car into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing four people.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said there were 676 live investigations being carried out by the security services and counter-terror police at the end of June, up from more than 500 in March.

Some 13 Islamist plots and four by far-right extremists have been foiled in the past 18 months, he added.