LONDON, Aug 15 (AFP): The man arrested for driving into a barrier protecting the Houses of Parliament in a suspected terror attack was a Briton of Sudanese origin from Birmingham, media reports said Wednesday.
Three people were injured when the silver Ford Fiesta drove into cyclists before crashing to a halt outside the House of Lords early on Tuesday morning.
A 29-year-old British man driving the car was arrested at the scene, and named by newspapers as Salih Khater, from the central English city of Birmingham.
Top police counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu said the suspect was not known to intelligence agencies, but The Times reported he was known to police.
The paper reported that Khater is a shop manager in Birmingham and had studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology, citing his Facebook page.
Abubakr Ibrahim, a childhood friend, told the paper: "He is not a terrorist. I have known him since childhood. He is a good man."
He said Khater was the son of sorghum farmers, and had moved to Britain about five years ago in order to earn money to help his family.
The member of parliament for the Hall Green area of Birmingham, Roger Godsiff, tweeted that the suspect was believed to have been from his area.
Police also said on Tuesday they were carrying out searches at two addresses in the city, as well as an address in nearby Nottingham.
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