While London has been a frequent target of terrorist attacks in the past, most notably by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from the 1970s to the late 1990s, the threat of IRA attacks has died down since the turn of the century and the 1998 Good Friday agreement. Londoners are now increasingly threatened by Islamic extremists who have carried out at least three attacks in the capital since 2005.
An attacker used a vehicle to mow down pedestrians before stabbing a police officer to death outside Britain’s Houses of Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, in what is being described as a major terror incident. Five people were killed, including the alleged attacker who was shot by armed police at Westminster. The victims included a police officer stabbed in the grounds of the House of Commons who died despite the efforts of doctors and an MP who tried to save him.
The three other victims were all reportedly struck by a 4x4 vehicle that plowed into people walking on nearby Westminster Bridge. The name of the attacker was not immediately disclosed.