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London Attacker Khalid Masood Had 20-Year Police Record Toll of London Attack Is Global for an Assailant Born in Britain
(about 3 hours later)
BIRMINGHAM, England — A 52-year-old man with a long criminal record who been had been investigated for ties to violent extremism carried out the deadly attack outside the British Parliament, the authorities announced on Thursday, as the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault. LONDON — The roster of the dead and wounded spanned the globe: a veteran Scotland Yard constable, a Mormon couple from Utah, South Korean tourists, French high schoolers and Romanian lovers.
Details about the man, Khalid Masood, a native of England who recently lived in the city of Birmingham, emerged as the government worked to project normalcy and calm nerves the day after the attack, which took the lives of a police officer, a British schoolteacher, an American tourist and a 75-year-old man, and injured more than 40 people. The killer turned out to be homegrown, a 52-year-old Briton, Khalid Masood, who had a criminal record but was not on any police-monitoring lists. The Islamic State, which rejects peace and coexistence, described Mr. Masood on Thursday as a disciple and hero for the assault carried out a day earlier in the shadow of Big Ben.
“Yesterday, an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy,” Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament, addressing colleagues who a day earlier had been placed on lockdown. “We are not afraid, and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism.” She called the violence “an attack on free people everywhere.” Mr. Masood plowed a rented Hyundai SUV through pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge, killing two and injuring at least 40; crashed the vehicle into a fence; and then emerged brandishing knives to fatally stab the constable before other police officers shot and killed him.
Parliament observed a minute of silence for the victims on Thursday morning, while crowds gathered at Trafalgar Square in the evening for a memorial vigil. Flags flew at half-staff above the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police and Parliament. Queen Elizabeth II expressed sympathy for the victims. On Thursday evening, another seriously injured victim died, bringing the total number of dead to five, including Mr. Masood.
At the United Nations, where the Security Council also observed a minute of silence, Britain’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said, “The world is united to defeat the people who launched this attack and to defeat their bankrupt and odious ideology.” He added: “Our values are superior. Our view of the world is better and more generous and our will is stronger.” Details about Mr. Masood emerged on Thursday as the government worked to project normalcy and calm nerves.
But even as the British capital returned fairly quickly to its daily rhythms, and as Parliament resumed business — starting with a debate on trade policy — police officers were trying to learn about Mr. Masood and whether they had missed signs of his radicalization. He was born on Dec. 25, 1964, in Kent, in southeastern England, and recently lived near Birmingham, historically known for its automotive industry and now home to many South Asian and Caribbean immigrants and their children. The authorities emphasized that they thought the assailant had acted alone, and that they did not expect any further attacks. But they raided six properties across the country, detaining eight people in London and Birmingham.
It was there, in the Spring Hill neighborhood, that Mr. Masood rented from an Enterprise branch the Hyundai Tucson that he used in the attack. “Yesterday, an act of terrorism tried to silence our democracy,” Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament, addressing colleagues who a day earlier had been placed on lockdown for hours. “We are not afraid, and our resolve will never waver in the face of terrorism.” She called the violence “an attack on free people everywhere.”
The International Center for the Study of Radicalization at King’s College, London, had traced the license plate of the rental car back to Birmingham within two hours of the attack and identified the name on the rental contract as Mr. Masood’s. At the United Nations, where the Security Council observed a minute of silence, Britain’s foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said, “The world is united to defeat the people who launched this attack and to defeat their bankrupt and odious ideology.”
He had a record of convictions, stretching from 1983 to 2003, for assault, weapons possession and violations of public order. But he was not the subject of any current investigation, and “there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack,” the London police said. Even as the British capital returned to its daily rhythms, and as Parliament resumed business, police officers were trying to learn whether they had missed signs of Mr. Masood’s radicalization.
In remarks to lawmakers, before the police identified Mr. Masood, Mrs. May said the attacker was “a peripheral figure” whom MI5, Britain’s domestic counterintelligence agency, had examined for links to violent extremism. She added that he was not “part of the current intelligence picture,” that “there was no prior evidence of his intent or of the plot” and that “our working assumption is that the attacker was inspired by Islamist ideology.” He was born on Dec. 25, 1964, in Kent, in southeastern England, and had recently lived near Birmingham, historically known for its automotive industry and now home to many South Asian and Caribbean immigrants and their children. It was there, in the Spring Hill neighborhood, that Mr. Masood rented from an Enterprise branch the Hyundai Tucson that he used in the attack.
The authorities emphasized that they thought the assailant had acted alone, and that they did not expect any further attacks; Mrs. May said the nation’s threat level would remain “severe,” meaning an attack was likely, and would not be raised to “critical,” which is used to signal an imminent attack. Mr. Masood had a record of convictions, from 1983 to 2003, for assault, weapons possession and violations of public order. But he was not the subject of any current investigation, and “there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack,” the London police said.
The authorities raided six properties across the country on Thursday, detaining eight people in London and in Birmingham. On Hagley Road, a commercial street in Birmingham, several people were arrested on Wednesday night in a raid on an apartment above a Persian restaurant. It was not clear what connection they had to Mr. Masood. Birmingham has a history of connections with radicalism. It was home to Rashid Rauf, a liaison to Al Qaeda and a main suspect in a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners in 2006; he was killed in 2008 in an American airstrike in northern Pakistan. Last year, security services foiled a bomb plot in Birmingham, linked to extremists.
“Birmingham is a city that historically has lots of issues and problems,” Raffaello Pantucci, the director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank, said in a phone interview. The Home Office made support for the Islamic State a criminal offense in June 2014, when Mrs. May was home secretary, and experts on radicalism said that the change had driven many extremists underground.
The city has a long history of connections with radicalism. It was home to Rashid Rauf, a liaison to Al Qaeda and a main suspect in a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners in 2006, who was killed in 2008 in an American airstrike in northern Pakistan. Last year, security services foiled a bomb plot in Birmingham, linked to extremists. On Thursday morning, the Islamic State issued a statement on the messaging app Telegram, calling the attacker a soldier who had “carried out the operation in response to appeals” to fight Western powers involved in military operations in the Middle East. The group has called for attacks on Britain, and Mr. Masood’s assault was reminiscent of attacks in France and Germany carried out with vehicles. A man tried to drive into a crowd in Antwerp, Belgium, on Thursday but was stopped.
Investigators have also looked into whether Abdelhamid Abbaoud, a ringleader of the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, has spent time there. Mohamed Abrini, a suspect in the Paris attacks and another attack last March in Brussels, did; investigators found photos from Birmingham on his phone, Mr. Pantucci said. Mrs. May visited victims at a hospital in London for 40 minutes on Thursday, according to her office. Details about most have not been released, but some information has dribbled out.
Roy Ramm, who spent nearly three decades in the Metropolitan Police and was the commander of specialist operations, said that British intelligence authorities would communicate with their international counterparts to establish whether the suspect was part of a network, and also to determine if he was on their radar at all, had left a travel footprint or was known to have associated with radical individuals. Police Constable Keith Palmer, 48, a member of the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command, was patrolling the Parliament building when the assailant fatally stabbed him. Tributes for Constable Palmer have poured in, and the Metropolitan Police announced on Twitter that his badge number would be retired.
For years, the police have been able to keep close tabs on potential Islamist radicals and terrorists, including Anjem Choudary, one of the most outspoken and effective hate preachers in Britain. But such efforts have become more challenging in recent years, experts say. “Keith Palmer was killed while bravely doing his duty — protecting our city and the heart of our democracy from those who want to destroy our way of life,” London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said.
The Home Office made support for the Islamic State a criminal offense in June 2014, when Mrs. May was home secretary, and experts on radicalism said that drove many Islamist extremists underground. Kurt W. Cochran, an American traveling in Europe with his wife, Melissa Payne Cochran, died of injuries, according to a statement from the family issued through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City.
Mobeen Azhar, who has made several documentaries on Islamist radicalism in Britain and who knows Mr. Choudary, said that criminalizing support for the militant group had undoubtedly prevented some vulnerable young people from being influenced by radical propaganda. But he said the networks had also become more careful, to avoid detection. Clint Payne, Mr. Cochran’s brother-in-law, said in the statement that the couple had been traveling in Europe for their 25th wedding anniversary, and had been scheduled to fly home on Thursday. He called Mr. Cochran “a good man and a loving husband.”
“It used to be that radicals in London would meet in church halls or at takeaways in East London, or set up stalls in parks,” Mr. Azhar said. “Now these networks meet in white vans and spaces not known to police and have gone more underground, making them more difficult to track.” Mr. Cochran’s wife was wounded in the attack, and hospitalized with “a broken leg, a broken rib and a cut on her head,” her sister, Sarah Payne-Mcfarlane, said in a post on Facebook. Their parents were serving as missionaries in London, according to the church.
On Thursday morning, the Islamic State issued a statement on the messaging app Telegram, declaring that the attacker was a “soldier” who “carried out the operation in response to appeals” to fight Western powers involved in military operations in the Middle East. The terrorist group has called for attacks on Britain, and Mr. Masood’s assault was reminiscent of attacks in France and Germany that were carried out with vehicles. A man tried to drive into a crowd in Antwerp, Belgium, on Thursday but was stopped. The couple ran a recording studio in West Bountiful, Utah, and Mr. Cochran had shared pictures of their stops in Germany and Scotland.
Mr. Masood used the rented vehicle to mow down scores of pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing three of them: Kurt W. Cochran, an American tourist in his 50s; Aysha Frade, 43, a British teacher; and a 75-year-old man who was removed from life support on Thursday. He then proceeded on foot to the gates of Parliament, where he fatally stabbed a police constable, Keith Palmer, 48, before being shot dead by the police. Aysha Frade, 43, a British teacher who lived in London, was fatally injured as she was heading to pick up her two daughters. She taught Spanish not far from Westminster Bridge, according to the Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia, and she had family in Spain, according to the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
Consistent with the multicultural character of London, the victims of the attack also included 12 Britons, five South Koreans, three French schoolchildren, two Greeks, two Romanians, and one citizen each from China, Germany, Ireland and Italy. The injured also included three 10th-grade boys from the Brittany region of France who were on the bridge with other visiting students and who sustained leg and arm fractures. On Thursday, the French Education Ministry said that their conditions were no longer life-threatening.
An area outside Parliament remained a large crime scene on Thursday; television video showed police officers examining the pavement stones outside Parliament for clues. Five South Koreans were wounded when they were mobbed by a crowd fleeing the attack site, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry. Four of them — three women and a man in their 50s and 60s — suffered fractures and other injuries. A 67-year-old woman, however, required surgery for a head injury, according to South Korean news reports.
Inside, shaken lawmakers recalled an unsettling day. The two Romanian victims, Andreea Cristea, 31, and Andrei Burnaz, 32, were from the Black Sea port city of Constanta, according to the Romanian news agency Mediafax, which quoted an official saying they had been visiting London to celebrate Mr. Burnaz’s birthday.
Nigel Evans, a Conservative lawmaker, had just voted on Wednesday afternoon when a colleague rushed up to him, asking anxiously if he had seen Mrs. May. The attack had begun, and a fellow lawmaker, Tobias Ellwood, had tried in vain to resuscitate Constable Palmer. Ms. Cristea was rescued after she plunged off the bridge into the Thames as the assailant careened the SUV through the crowd, and news reports said she suffered serious head injuries and lung damage. Mr. Burnaz’s foot was fractured.
Worrying about possible additional attackers, security officers began searching frantically for other intruders, and lawmakers and their staff did their best to keep out of the way. “The last thing they wanted was us running around the place,” Mr. Evans said. An area outside Parliament remained a large crime scene on Thursday, as police officers examined the pavement stones for clues.
A young parliamentary researcher found himself in the wrong place and was swiftly challenged. “He had his hands in the air and was walking, slowly, up to members of a SWAT team with submachine guns,” Mr. Evans recalled. The Palace of Westminster, which includes the Houses of Parliament, is a bewildering warren of corridors, and the work of ensuring that it was clear of assailants took time in the immediate aftermath of the assault. A group of visiting schoolchildren — some in tears — were among those caught up in the confusion, which lasted for hours.
Specialist officers, some wearing black balaclavas, began to move through the building, securing each room, breaking down at least one door on the way. Lawmakers were confined to specific areas, where they were given water and in some cases sandwiches. But what some lacked most of all was the power to communicate, and to check that their staff was safe.
The Palace of Westminster, which includes the Houses of Parliament, is made up of a bewildering warren of corridors, and the work of ensuring that it was clear of assailants took time. A group of visiting schoolchildren — some in tears — were among those caught up in the confusion. Over all, the atmosphere was one of calm and cooperation, however. “People appreciated the gravity of the situation,” said Nigel Evans, a Conservative lawmaker.
For hours, lawmakers were confined to specific areas, where they were given water and in some cases sandwiches. But what some lacked most of all was the power to communicate, and to check that their staff was safe. Very few had chargers for their cellphones, and those who did sought power sockets. Some waited for a traditional phone line in one of the offices close to the chamber. That may have been partly because an attack of this type had not been completely unexpected. Security has been noticeably tightened in Parliament in recent years, with large barriers placed in front of parts of the building to thwart the threat of a truck bomb. Police officers with submachine guns patrol the grounds routinely.
Over all, the atmosphere was one of calm and cooperation, however. “People appreciated the gravity of the situation,” Mr. Evans said.
That may have been partly because an attack of this type was not completely unexpected. Security has been noticeably tightened in Parliament in recent years, with large barriers being placed in front of parts of the building to ward off the threat of a truck bomb. Police with submachine guns patrol the Parliament grounds routinely.
But the complex is by a busy street, and some lawmakers still wonder whether some of the security was designed with the idea of fending off the type of attacks once mounted by the Irish Republican Army, which in 1979 assassinated a Conservative lawmaker, Airey Neave, using a car bomb in Parliament.But the complex is by a busy street, and some lawmakers still wonder whether some of the security was designed with the idea of fending off the type of attacks once mounted by the Irish Republican Army, which in 1979 assassinated a Conservative lawmaker, Airey Neave, using a car bomb in Parliament.
“I am shocked, but I am not surprised,” Chris Bryant, a Labour lawmaker, said of the latest attack. “We have always known that a marauding attack by an individual would be the most difficult to prevent.”“I am shocked, but I am not surprised,” Chris Bryant, a Labour lawmaker, said of the latest attack. “We have always known that a marauding attack by an individual would be the most difficult to prevent.”
Mr. Bryant said that security would have to be reviewed in line with the normal protocols but that no parliamentary building could be 100 percent secure. Lawmakers live with threats to their safety — Mr. Bryant says police are investigating several against him — and some feel safer in Parliament than in their constituencies. On Thursday, with tightened security, lawmakers crowded into the parliamentary chamber determined to show that they would not be deterred. Ed Miliband, a former leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the mood had been one of “shock and determination and also admiration for the job that the security people are doing.”
The risk in less well protected locations was underscored last year with the assassination of Jo Cox, a Labour lawmaker, in her district in northern England.
On Thursday, with tightened security, lawmakers crowded into the parliamentary chamber determined to show that they would not be deterred from their job. Ed Miliband, a former leader of the opposition Labour Party, said the mood had been one of “shock and determination and also admiration for the job that the security people are doing.”
“I think we are seeing people’s increased determination to carry on with their normal business,” he said.“I think we are seeing people’s increased determination to carry on with their normal business,” he said.
Mr. Bryant said he understands that security needs to be reviewed but does not want to make Parliament into a fortress, with lawmakers hidden from their voters behind new barricades. “It is an iconic building,” he said. “You couldn’t get a building more iconic of Western democracy, but being an old building, it poses challenges of its own.”
Mrs. May said that life would go on and that the country must not cave into terrorism, and Londoners seemed to be taking the attacks in stride.
“As I was coming in through the tube, I noticed there was a great air of calm,” said Elizabeth Sweeney, 57, referring to the British subway. “That was the overriding sense that I had, first thing.”
After the recent bloody attacks in Brussels and Paris, many Londoners had felt that an attack in their city was inevitable. “We do have a tendency to just get on with it,” said Meredith O’Shaughnessy, 38, an event planner. “It takes a lot to shake a Londoner.”