Islamic State claims London attack that killed 3

The Islamic State group said Thursday the terror attack outside the British parliament in London, in which three people were killed, was carried out by one of its “soldiers.”

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said that the person who carried out the “attack in front of the British parliament in London was a soldier of the Islamic State.”

It added that the man “carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition.”

The Islamic State has called on its supporters to carry out attacks against citizens of the US-led coalition that has been targeting the group since 2014.

The group has been responsible for numerous bloody attacks around the globe, and has also previously claimed certain attacks in a show of opportunism.

Britain’s government has not identified the suspect.

The London attacker himself was born in Britain and had been investigated for violent extremism “some years ago” by the MI5 intelligence service, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday.

“The man was British born and… some years ago he was once investigated by MI5 in relation to concerns about violent extremism,” she told parliament, adding: “He was not part of the current intelligence picture.”

Press Association news agency photos, believed to be of the attacker lying on an ambulance stretcher, showed a burly, bearded man wearing black clothes.

At around 2:40 p.m. (4:40 p.m Israel time) Wednesday, the attacker rammed a car along the pavement on Westminster Bridge, a busy traffic route that is also a popular tourist spot with its views of parliament and its Big Ben clock tower.

After mowing down several people on the bridge, the attacker crashed the car into the railings outside parliament and then tried to enter the building, stabbing a policeman with a large knife. Armed officers shot the attacker dead.

In total the assailant killed three people during the rampage: two members of the public and the stabbed police officer. Authorities revised down the toll after earlier saying the attacker had killed four people.

Some 30 people were wounded, including five South Korean tourists, two Romanians, a Portuguese man and three French schoolchildren. Seven were in critical condition after suffering “catastrophic” injuries.

Britain’s top counter-terror officer Mark Rowley told journalists on Wednesday that police suspect “Islamist-related terrorism”.

Seven people were arrested in armed raids early Thursday, including in London and second city Birmingham.