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British police name London attacker as Khalid Masood, 52

LONDON - British police named the man who killed three people near parliament before being shot dead as Khalid Masood, saying he had a string of criminal convictions but none for terrorism-related offences.

Handout photo of Khalid Masood. Photo: London Metropolitan Police/Twitter

Handout photo of Khalid Masood. Photo: London Metropolitan Police/Twitter

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LONDON - British police named the man who killed three people near parliament before being shot dead as Khalid Masood, saying he had a string of criminal convictions but none for terrorism-related offences.

Masood, 52, was born in Kent to the southeast of London and had been most recently living in central England, London police said on Thursday (March 23).

"Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," they said in a statement.

"However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences."

He had not been convicted previously for any terrorism offences, they said. His first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last was in December 2003 for possession of a knife.

On Wednesday, Masood had plowed an SUV into pedestrians on one of London's famous bridges, the Westminster Bridge, and then stabbed a police officer to death with knives at the Britain's Parliament before being shot dead by another officer. Four people - including the attacker - were killed and more than 30 were wounded. Seven were in critical condition.

Earlier on Thursday, British Prime Minister Theresa May said in Parliament that Masood was “a peripheral figure” who had been examined by MI5, Britain’s domestic counterintelligence agency, but who had not been “part of the current intelligence picture”.

May added 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”.

The Islamic State (IS) militant group had since claimed responsibility for the incident, calling Masood a "soldier of Islamic State".

The British authorities raided six properties across the country on Thursday, detaining eight people in London and Birmingham, as they pressed ahead with a fast-moving investigation. 

The authorities emphasised that they believed the assailant had acted alone and that they did not expect any further attacks. AGENCIES

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