Terrorist attack on Westminster Bridge, five dead

Last 22nd March was a living nightmare for Londoners and tourists.Westminster Bridge

At about 2:40 pm a man bumped into pedestrians over Westminster Bridge by his car, near the Houses of Parliament. He killed three people before crashing the car into the Parliament’s gates. He tried to enter the building, armed with two knives. There he stabbed to death an unarmed police officer. Then the terrorist was shot and killed too by armed police. Police reported at least 50 injured people, including a group of French schoolchildren.

The Isis has recently claimed its responsibility for the attack. It released a statement through the Amaq News Agency calling the attacker “a soldier of Islamic State”.
The terrorist was identified as Khalid Masood, born in Kent on Christmas Day in 1964, living in the West Midlands. He had already been investigated some years ago by MI5 for violent extremism and for assaults. Frank Gardner, a BBC security correspondent, described Masood as a “strange character”. Even locals referred to him as “the vampire” because he usually went out at night and dressed in black. As Khalid Masood couldn’t have acted alone, police had arrested ten people on suspicion of being involved in the preparation of the terrorist attack.

The Prime Minister, Theresa May, said that the attack on Wednesday was “sick and depraved” and she highlighted the fact that Britain was “not afraid” and would stand firm in the face of terror. There would be also more armed and unarmed officers on duty in London and across the country as a “precautionary measure”.

Lots of supportive and compassionate signs has started to become trending on social media, such as the hashtag #WeAreNotAfraid which wants to show that Londoners won’t be discouraged by terrorist attacks. Multiple fundraising pages have also been set up to help the murdered police officer’s family, as well as other victims, raising more than £320,000.