Suspect in UK Parliament crash charged with attempted murder

Salih Khater was arrested immediately after the attack on Tuesday

The area is packed with tourists as police secure the scene near a road barrier outside the Houses of Parliament in London, the day after a suspected terror attack, Wednesday Aug. 15, 2018. British counter-terrorism police are carrying out investigations after a car slammed into barriers outside the Houses of Parliament in London on Tuesday.(Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
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A driver whose car collided with several people before crashing outside Britain's Parliament in London has been charged with attempted murder, police said on Saturday

Metropolitan Police said 29-year-old Salih Khater faces two charges – attempting to kill police officers and trying to kill members of the public.

Three people were injured when Khater, a British citizen originally from Sudan, hit a group of cyclists before colliding with security outside parliament on Tuesday. Authorities said that was an attempt to murder police officers.

One injured person was treated at the scene and two were taken to hospitals, where they were treated and released.

Within minutes of Tuesday's morning rush-hour crash, police flooded the streets around parliament and cordoned off the area of the city that is home to government buildings and tourist attractions, including Westminster Abbey.

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The crash happened less than 18 months after an attacker ploughed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four, then fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot dead outside parliament.

About three months later, a van rammed into pedestrians on London Bridge before three men abandoned the vehicle and attacked weekend revellers in the nearby Borough Market. Eight people were killed and 48 injured.

In June 2017, a far-right extremist drove a van into a crowd of worshippers leaving a London mosque, killing one man and injuring eight.

In light of the methodology and high-profile location, prosecutors are treating the parliament crash as terrorism, although Khater has not been charged with a terrorist offence.

He is scheduled to appear in a London court on Monday.