Terrorism | IS claims responsibility for London attack; UK’s May defiant 

Members of Britain’s House of Parliament observe a minute of silence paying respect to the victims of yesterday’s attack in London

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility yesterday for an attack by a man who plowed an SUV into pedestrians on one of London’s famous bridges and then stabbed a police officer to death at Britain’s Parliament. In a somber but defiant statement, Britain’s prime minister declared that “we are not afraid.”

The man who killed three people Wednesday and was shot to death by police was born in Britain and once came under investigation for links to religious extremism, British Prime Minister Theresa May said yesterday in a sweeping speech before the House of Commons.

May delivered a defiant message to the House of Commons: “We are not afraid”

Police raided properties in London and Birmingham, and made eight arrests.

An Utah man visiting London with his wife for their 25th anniversary and a British woman who was a school administrator were killed by the SUV attack on Westminster Bridge and at least 29 others were hospitalized, seven critically.

May set an unyielding tone yesterday, saluting the heroism of police as well as the ordinary actions of everyone who went about their lives in the aftermath.

“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.”

Parliament began its moment of silence at 9:33 a.m., honoring the shoulder number of the slain officer, Keith Palmer, a 15-year veteran of the Metropolitan Police and a former soldier. Then Parliament, which was locked down after the attack, returned to business — a counter to those who had attacked British democracy.

In 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall, the oldest part of Parliament’s buildings, politicians, journalists and parliamentary staff lined up to sign a book of condolences for the victims. Among them was a uniformed policeman, who wrote: “Keith, my friend, will miss you.”

The rampage was the first deadly incident at Parliament since 1979, when Conservative lawmaker Airey Neave was killed in a car bombing by Irish militants.

Some parliamentarians said they were shaken, and all were somber. But they were also determined. “There is no such thing as 100 percent security,” said Menzies Campbell, a member of the House of Lords. “We have to learn to live with that.”

The London attack echoed deadly vehicle rampages in Nice, France, and Berlin last year that IS has claimed. The Islamic State group said through its Aamaq News Agency that the London attacker was a soldier of the Islamic State who “carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition” of countries fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.

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 events later found to have no clear links to it.

Police believe the attacker acted alone and there is no reason to believe “imminent further attacks” are planned, May said. He had been investigated before but police believed he was a peripheral figure, May said.

Labour Party lawmaker Khalid Mahmood, who represents part of Birmingham, condemned the “barbaric attack” and urged his fellow Muslims to report concerns about radicalization to the police.

“We have to condemn this outright,” he said. “There are no ifs or buts. This is a hugely tragic incident. These people do not belong to any faith. They certainly don’t belong to my faith of Islam.”

Mahmood said the attacker and those like him “should be condemned by everybody and this shouldn’t serve as a tool for division within our community.”

Many suspects in British terror attacks and plots have roots in the city, which has been described in a recent terror analysis by the Henry Jackson Society conservative think tank as a center for Islamist extremism. Several local mosques have also been linked to extremist clerics.

British security forces have foiled 13 plots in the past four years. There are currently thousands of extremists in the U.K. who are known to officials but only a fraction of whom are under surveillance, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about ongoing security operations. It takes dozens of officers to watch just one terror suspect.

Witnesses said the attacker went straight after the police officer after ramming into the pedestrians.

“This man got out of the car with two knives in his hands and while he was running he was stabbing people. He arrived in front of the entrance to the parliament and he started to stab a policeman,” said Vincenzo Mangiacarpe, an Italian boxer who was visiting Parliament. “You can imagine if someone was playing a drum on your back with 2 knives – he gave him around 10 stabs in the back, then he left the policeman and he came toward us.”

Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley revised the death toll from five to four, including the attacker. He said 29 people required hospitalization and seven of them were in critical condition. He also said that authorities were still working out the number of “walking wounded.” Police had previously given the total number of wounded in Wednesday’s attack as around 40.

London has been a target for terrorism many times over past decades and the threat level for the British capital was already listed at severe, meaning an attack was “highly likely.”

May said the attack in London targeted “free people everywhere,” and she said she had a response for those behind it: “You will not defeat us.” AP

A look at victims of the attack outside Parliament

Police officer Keith Palmer

Here’s what’s known about the victims of an attack in London where a man plowed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing two people and injuring scores of others. He then stabbed a policeman to death on the grounds of Britain’s Parliament before other officers fatally shot him.

The man the police believe to be responsible for the attack in Westminster has been formally identified as Khalid Masood, Scotland Yard said yesterday. BBC reported that Masood, aged 52, was born in Kent, and detectives believe he was most recently living in the West Midlands.

Police Officer Keith Palmer, 48, was on duty protecting Parliament Wednesday when he was stabbed to death. He had been a member of the parliamentary and diplomatic protection forces for 15 years, and a soldier in the Royal Artillery before that. Honoring Palmer, Prime Minister Theresa May said he was “a husband, a father … he was every inch a hero.” His actions will never be forgotten.”

Praise for Palmer’s bravery also poured in from politicians and colleagues, and Britain held a minute’s silence Thursday at 9:33 a.m. in honor of his shoulder number, 933. Aysha Frade, a British national whose mother is Spanish, was one of two people killed on the bridge.

Rachel Borland, the principal of DLD College — a school in Westminster a stone’s throw from Parliament — said she was a “highly regarded and loved” member of staff who worked in the school’s administration team.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry says Spanish consular officials have made contact with Frade’s relatives in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia, when her identity was confirmed. Frade was 43 and had two daughters, Spain’s regional Voz de Galicia newspaper reported.

Kurt Cochran, a Utah man visiting London with his wife Melissa for their 25th anniversary, was named as among the dead by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was seriously injured in the attack as is still hospitalized.

In addition to the dead, at least 30 people from 12 countries were injured. Of those who required hospital treatment, 12 were British, three were French, two were Romanian, four were South Korean, two were Greek, and one each were from Germany, Poland, Ireland, China, Italy and the U.S. Portuguese officials also said one person from Portugal was injured. Police earlier said that seven people were in critical condition.