A shop manager from Birmingham is the main suspect after a car was driven at cyclists and pedestrians in Parliament Square during Tuesday morning’s rush hour.
Salih Khater was arrested at the scene on Tuesday and has been in police custody.
He was arrested on suspicion of terror offences and subsequently, on suspicion of attempted murder.
Police are treating the act as deliberate.
This is what we know about Khater so far.
:: How old is Khater?
We first heard he was in his 20s, and now know he is 29 years old.
2:00 :: Where is he from?
Khater is a Sudanese immigrant, who lived in the Sparkhill area of Birmingham. He is a British citizen.
He lived above an internet cafe, but the owner of the cafe claims he moved out a few months ago.
Two addresses in Birmingham and one in Nottingham have been searched as part of the police investigation. They are continuing to search a third address in Birmingham.
:: What did he do?
We know Khater used to study accountancy at Coventry University, but dropped out.
A spokesman for the university said: “Salih Khater studied accountancy at Coventry University between September 2017 and May 2018.
“As of May 2018 he is no longer enrolled at the university.”
2:00 According to his Facebook page, he is a shop manager, and also studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology.
:: What is he like?
Khater was not known to police or MI5.
His neighbours have called him a quiet man, “who would say nothing to nobody”.
Neighbour Ahmed Abdi, who had known him for about 18 months, said: “He was around here almost every day and I was here yesterday when the police turned up. He was very quiet and he used to drive a small white car, a really old one.
“He was very, very quiet and he never spoke to anybody. He would say nothing to nobody.”
Nassar Mahmood, a trustee of Birmingham central mosque, said Khater was not known as a “fervent worshipper”.
Ali Mohamed, a Sudanese community leader, told Sky News that Khater was “very social, a sporty man who loved to attend football on a regular basis”.
:: What does social media reveal?
His Facebook profile had not been heavily used in recent years, but historical posts showed his music interests, as he shared videos from Celine Dion and Eminem.
3:31 He had also liked pages including Fort Wayne Indiana, London Metropolitan University and I Am Sudanese.
He wrote his status updates in English and Arabic. He listed a quote he liked, writing: “Love is only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
His profile was taken down after his name emerged.
:: What is he thought to have done?
The attack took place at 7.37am on 14 August.
Before that, the silver Ford Fiesta used to mow down cyclists was driven from Birmingham to London, arriving in the capital just after midnight.
It spent almost five hours in the Tottenham Court Road area before it was then driven around Westminster from about 6am, for more than 90 minutes, before driving into crash barriers outside Parliament.
Three people were hurt. Two were taken to hospital but were discharged on the same day, and one person was treated at the scene.
2:10 The “deliberate” nature of the attack as well as the iconic location of the Houses of Parliament has led police to treat the incident as terrorism.
:: What is his motive?
Police say their “priority” is to “understand the motivation behind this incident”, and said on Tuesday he was not co-operating with their enquiries.
Khater has not been charged.
From – SkyNews
