A terror suspect arrested after a car crashed into a barrier at the Houses of Parliament at high speed is not believed to be known to the security services, police have said.

At least three people were injured when the silver Ford Fiesta hit a group of cyclists and pedestrians waiting for traffic lights to change. Rooftop camera footage shows the car mounting a pavement on the wrong side of the road before, witnesses said, it travelled at up to 50mph for around 40 metres (130ft) and hit a bollard.

Scotland Yard said a man in his late 20s was arrested after the incident at around 7.30am on Tuesday. The suspect was taken to a south London police station, where he remains on suspicion of terrorism offences. He is not co-operating with officers.

Meanwhile, as Theresa May warned of the "severe" threat facing Britain, new figures showed a sharp rise in terrorism investigations, with the number of live cases of suspected plots rising from more than 500 in March to 676 by the end of June.

The Met's counter-terrorism command is leading the investigation into the latest attack. Officers are seeking to formally identify the suspect, but "don't believe this person is known to either MI5 or counter-terrorism police".

The suspect is reported to be from the Midlands and it is believed that he might have travelled to London from Birmingham.</s>A number of pedestrians have been injured after a car crashed into security barriers outside the Palace of Westminster in London.

The incident occurred this morning at around 7.37am. Follow all the latest with our live blog here.</s>A number of pedestrians have been injured and a man has been arrested after a car crashed into a security barrier outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on Tuesday morning during rush hour, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

Police said the male driver of the car was detained at the scene after the incident which happened just after 7:30 a.m. “At this stage, officers do not believe that anybody is in a life-threatening condition,” police tweeted.

London Ambulance Service said it treated two people for injuries that were not believed to be serious. Both were taken to hospital.

The nearby Westminster underground station has been closed, according to Transport for London. Parliament is currently in summer recess.

Eyewitness Ewelina U. Ochab told CNN she saw the incident take place from the other side of the pavement.

“I heard some noise, and someone screamed. I turned around and I saw a silver car driving from the crossing — very fast and close to the railings, maybe even on the pavement,” Ochab said.

“The car drove at speed… There was a loud bang from the collusion and a bit if smoke. The driver did not get out. The guards started screaming to people to move away. One elderly man rushed me to hide behind a monument, just in case.”

Jackie Laidley from London, works as a manager in the Cabinet office, and told CNN she couldn’t reach her place of work due to police cordons.

“We’re kind of stuck waiting to hear from our bosses what to do,” she said.

“We’ve had attacks over the years… You just thank your stars that you’re really not caught up in it. When you live in London in a big city anything like this can happen,” she added.

It’s currently unclear if the incident was terror-related.

Security measures in the area were reinforced after the Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017. Four people were killed in that incident when a 52-year-old British man, Khalid Masood, rammed a rental car onto the sidewalk on Westminster Bridge. Masood then stabbed an unarmed police officer.</s>THE crash that injured a number of pedestrians in London this morning is now being treated as a terrorist incident.

At 7.37am today, a silver Ford Fiesta collided with a number of cyclists and pedestrians, before crashing into the security barrier outside the Houses of Parliament.

READ MORE: Man arrested after car crashes outside Houses of Parliament

The driver of the car, a man in his late 20s, was arrested at the scene by armed officers, on suspicion of terror offences.

He has been taken to a south London police station where he remains in police custody.

Police officers say that there was nobody else in the vehicle – which is now being searched. No weapons have been found.

A number of people were injured and have been taken to hospital, but it is said none of the injuries seem to be life-threatening.

Officers remain at the scene and cordons are in place. Road closures in the area are likely to remain in place for some time. Westminster Tube station is also closed.

The Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading the investigation.

Anyone with information is asked to call 0800 789 321 – with requests for footage and pictures to be sent to ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk</s>Updated at 6:45 a.m. ET

A driver crashed a vehicle into security barriers outside the Houses of Parliament in London during the Tuesday morning commute, injuring three people, police and medical personnel say.

Police officers arrested the driver on "suspicion of terrorist offenses," the Metropolitan Police says. The agency describes the suspect as a 29-year-old man who is a U.K. national. He was at the wheel of a silver Ford Fiesta when it crashed through a stream of cyclists and pedestrians and hit a metal barrier that stopped the Fiesta and left its hood crumpled.

"He is not currently co-operating," Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said of attempts to determine a possible motive.

Images from outside the Palace of Westminster that were posted to social media showed the driver in handcuffs. Near the scene of the crash, cyclists stood or sat near their bikes as medical personnel worked in the background.

The London Ambulance Service says two people were treated at the scene and taken to the hospital and that a third person with minor injuries "was assessed at the scene." Roughly 12 hours after the incident, the police said the two patients, a man and a woman, had been discharged from the hospital.

The car that was used in the apparent attack is privately owned and had been in Birmingham Monday night, the Metropolitan Police said in an update on their investigation Tuesday afternoon. The police said detectives were carrying out searches at three addresses — two locations in Birmingham and one in Nottingham.

The crash occurred just before 7:40 a.m. local time. In a rooftop video released by the BBC, the car can be seen suddenly veering across a small pedestrian plaza before racing down a side street and sidewalk — where police officers leaped out of the way before the car slammed into a security barrier.

Armed officers arrested the driver, who was alone and unarmed in the car. The crash drew a large response from police and ambulances.

NPR's Frank Langfitt, reporting from London, says two of the injured are cyclists who were struck by the car.

Jason Williams, a witness quoted by Reuters, said the car hit a barrier hard on a lane used for access to the Parliament building. Williams said it appeared deliberate.

"It's a very serious incident," he told reporters, according to the news agency. "There was smoke coming from the vehicle."

The police said there's no cause to believe people in London are under a continuing threat — but the department has also deployed "Project Servator officers" in Westminster. Those officers, the Metropolitan Police says, "have specialist skills to recognize when a person is displaying minute signs of anxiety... to identify anyone who may be in the area for terrorist or other criminal purposes."

The U.K. Parliament, which is in recess until September, released a statement saying, "Our thoughts are with all those impacted by this incident."

London has experienced three vehicle terrorism attacks since last year.

In March 2017, a radical Islamist drove across Westminster Bridge, hitting pedestrians before crashing outside Parliament.

This is a developing story. Some things reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.</s>The suspect, who has not been named, was arrested by armed police carrying rifles after the silver Ford Fiesta appeared to be deliberately driven at pedestrians in Westminster. The man, in his 20s and wearing a black puffer jacket, was pulled from the smoking vehicle by armed cops and led away in handcuffs at around 7.37am this morning. Cops have confirmed the suspect is from the West Midlands area. Shocking CCTV footage shows the vehicle drive down the wrong side of the road before appearing to swerve into pedestrians and cyclists and slamming into a security barrier. Five people, including pedestrians and cyclists, were injured during what police say “appears to be a deliberate attack”, but none of them are in a life threatening condition.

Scotland Yard’s counter-terror team, which is leading the investigation, is treating the the rush-hour car crash as a “terrorist incident”. Officers are attempting to identify the suspect and what his motivations are for driving the car into crowds of people in Westminster. The force has confirmed the suspect is being questioned at a south London police station, where he remains in custody but is “refusing to cooperate”. He was not known to police or security agency MI5, counter-terrorism head Neil Basu said in an interview outside Scotland Yard.

“We have not formally identified him yet” "Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident and the investigation is being led by officers from the counter-terrorism command," said Mr Basu. "We have not formally identified him yet. On the details we have at the moment we don't believe this individual was known to MI5 or counter-terror police." There was nobody else in the vehicle and no weapons were found, police said. The car used in the Westminster terror crash is registered in Nottingham and has several previous owners, Sky News reports. Mr Basu added no other suspects have been identified and there is "no intelligence at this time of further danger" to Londoners.

Two people were taken to hospital, while a third person with minor injuries was assessed at the scene, the London Ambulance Service (LAS) said. One was discharged from St Thomas' Hospital before midday, while a woman is being treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries at St Mary's Hospital. Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts were with those injured and thanked the emergency services for their "immediate and courageous" response. A meeting of the Government's emergency cobra committee will be held at 2pm. US President Donald Trump said on Twitter: "These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!"</s>Westminster crash: The man was arrested after the incident yesterday

A Facebook page for a man of the same name says he lives in Birmingham, works as a shop manager, and has studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology.

The silver Ford Fiesta used in the attack was driven from Birmingham to London late on Monday and spent almost five hours in the Tottenham Court Road area.

It was then driven around the Westminster area for more than 90 minutes before it crashed into a security barrier just before 7.40am on Tuesday.

Mr Khater was originally arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrrism and was subsequently arrested for attempted murder.

Counter-terrorism officers have since conducted searches at two addresses in Birmingham and a residential property in Nottingham as part of the probe.

Plainclothed police officers could be seen outside an address in Peveril Street, Nottingham, on Tuesday evening, said by neighbours to be home to six Sudanese people.

There was also a police presence near the Bunna Internet Cafe on Stratford Road in Sparkbrook, Birmingham, but it was not confirmed whether that was in relation to the Westminster probe.</s>A man detained after a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament in a suspected terror attack has been further arrested for attempted murder, Scotland Yard said.

The 29-year-old British national of Sudanese origin, originally arrested on a terrorism charge after allegedly ploughing into cyclists and a security barrier, is called Salih Khater, a source confirmed.

Satisfied they know the identity of the man who was arrested, the Metropolitan Police said the priority of the investigation team continues to be to understand the motivation.

The force said officers have concluded searches at two addresses in Birmingham and one in Nottingham, and continue to search a third in Birmingham.

Residents who knew Khater have described him as a quiet man who frequently visited the Bunna Internet Cafe on Stratford Road in Birmingham.

One customer, who would only give his name as Adam, said he had been served coffee by Khater and that he was a polite and apparently humble man.

“I am still in shock. I’ve known him for about a year and he is a very, very good man,” he told the Press Association.

“I can’t see him doing anything stupid.

“He was polite, humble and he kept himself to himself. The whole community is upset. I can’t see it not being an accident – I couldn’t see him hurting a fly, never mind a human being.”

Ahmed Abdi, originally from Somalia, said Khater was regularly at the cafe, and was a “very quiet” man who “never spoke” and drove a small, old white car.

The 43-year-old, who recognised his image on the news, said he knew the man as Salih and had known him for around a year and a half.

A police search is thought to have taken place about a mile from the cafe, at a tower block in the Highgate area, where a plainclothes officer prevented reporters from entering the 10th floor landing.

Khater was previously an accountancy student at Coventry University, a spokesman said, confirming he attended between September last year and May.

He added that Khater failed the first year of his course and his enrolment was terminated.

The Facebook page for a man called Salih Khater says he lives in Birmingham, works as a shop manager, and has studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology.

It has subsequently been disabled and is no longer publicly available on the social network.

The silver Ford Fiesta used in the attack was driven from Birmingham to London late on Monday and spent almost five hours in the Tottenham Court Road area.

It was then driven around the Westminster area for more than 90 minutes before it crashed into a security barrier just before 7.40am on Tuesday.

Footage aired on BBC News showed the car’s approach towards Parliament, where it crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with cyclists before entering a small road and crashing into a security barrier.

Three people sustained non-life-threatening injuries. One man was treated at the scene while another man and a woman were taken to hospital but were discharged by Tuesday evening.

A residential property on Peveril Street in Nottingham which was searched by police (Josh Payne/PA)

Images posted online showed a man wearing a black puffer jacket being led away in handcuffs from the car as armed police swarmed the scene.

There was nobody else in the vehicle and no weapons were found, police said.

Witnesses described an emotionless driver who ploughed through cyclists who “were thrown everywhere” in what they said appeared to be a deliberate act.

Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement following the incident in which she praised the “formidable courage” and professionalism of the emergency services who “ran towards” danger.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid, who also thanked the emergency services, urged people to “keep an open mind” about the incident.

Birmingham Central Mosque said members of the local community believed Khater may have travelled to London for an appointment to obtain a visa to travel to Sudan.

Trustee Nassar Mahmood said inquiries in the local Sudanese community suggested Khater did not worship at the mosque and had shown no signs of radicalisation.

Mr Mahmood said: “Like the rest of the community of the UK, the people of Birmingham and the Birmingham Central Mosque are surprised, shocked and saddened by the incident at Westminster. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been injured.”

The Houses of Parliament are surrounded with security barriers of steel and concrete.

The measures were extended after the Westminster Bridge attack in March 2017 when Khalid Masood ploughed a car into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing four people.

Masood abandoned his car then fatally stabbed unarmed Pc Keith Palmer before he was shot by armed police in a courtyard outside Parliament.

The terrorist threat against the UK is seen as unprecedented.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said there were 676 live investigations being carried out by the security services and counter-terror police at the end of June, up from more than 500 in March.

Some 13 Islamist plots and four by far-right extremists have been foiled in the past 18 months, he added.

There are roughly 3,000 active “subjects of interest” at any one time, while there is a wider pool of more than 20,000 individuals who have featured in probes whose threat must be kept under review.</s>A deserted road leading to the scene where a car crashed into security barriers outside the Houses of Parliament to the right of a bus in London, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

A car plowed into pedestrians and cyclists near the Houses of Parliament in London during the morning rush hour Tuesday, injuring three people in what police suspect is the latest in a string of attacks in the British capital that used vehicles as weapons.

Armed police flooded the area after the incident was reported at 7:37 a.m., hauling the driver from the vehicle, arresting him and cordoning off streets surrounding the heart of Britain’s government. The nearby Westminster subway station was closed, and police asked people to stay away from the area.

“Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident,” Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu of the Metropolitan Police told reporters outside Scotland Yard.

A man in his late 20s was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences. The suspect was not co-operating with police, and officers were working to confirm his identity, said Basu, who oversees U.K. counterterrorism policing. No other suspects have been identified and police believe there is no further threat to Londoners, he said.

Basu said “we don’t believe this individual was known” to police or Britain’s intelligence services.

Eyewitnesses said the silver Ford Fiesta car was travelling at high speed when it hit pedestrians and cyclists, then crashed into a barrier designed to protect Parliament from vehicle attack. Two people were taken to local hospitals and another was treated at the scene. One woman remained hospitalized Tuesday afternoon, but her injuries aren’t believed to be life threatening, authorities said.

“The car drove at speed into the barriers outside the House of Lords. There was a loud bang from the collision and a bit of smoke,” Ewelina Ochab told The Associated Press. “The driver did not get out. The guards started screaming to people to move away.”

Jason Williams also saw a car moving at high speed.

“It didn’t look like an accident,” he said. “How do you do that by accident?”

Donovan Parsons, a cameraman for ITV’s “Good Morning Britain,” was filming outside Parliament when he heard a loud crash.

“I saw the car crash into the barrier outside Westminster Palace, with smoke coming out of the vehicle. Police were around it, telling people to get back. … They dragged someone out of the car.”

Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted: “My thoughts are with those injured in the incident in Westminster and my thanks to the emergency services for their immediate and courageous response.”

U.S. President Donald Trump was less measured, tweeting that the crash was “another terrorist attack in London.”

Trump added: “These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength!”

Trump has a history of tweeting about violence, or alleged violence, in London. He angered many when he said a London hospital was like a war zone because of knife violence.

Parliament was the site of an attack in March 2017, when Khalid Masood ploughed a car into crowds on Westminster Bridge, killing four people. Masood abandoned his car and then stabbed and killed a police officer before being shot dead in a courtyard outside Parliament.

Less than three months later, a van rammed into pedestrians on London Bridge before three men abandoned the vehicle and attacked weekend revelers in the nearby Borough Market. Eight people were killed and 48 injured in the attack.

RELATED: 10 injured after van plows into crowd near London Mosque

On June 19, 2017, a man drove a van into a crowd of worshippers leaving a mosque in north London, killing one man and injuring eight others.

The official terrorist threat level for Britain is “severe,” indicating an attack is considered highly likely.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.</s>LONDON: A man deliberately drove a car into London pedestrians and cyclists on Tuesday before ramming it into barriers outside Britain's parliament in what appeared to be the second terrorist attack at the building in just under 18 months, police said.

Three people were injured. The driver, a man in his 20s, was arrested by armed officers moments later. He was not cooperating with detectives, the British police counter-terrorism chief said.

"Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident," the officer, London Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, told reporters.

In March 2017, Khalid Masood, 52, killed four people on nearby Westminster Bridge and stabbed an unarmed police officer to death in the grounds of parliament before being shot dead.

It was the first of five attacks in Britain last year that police designated as terrorism, three of which used vehicles as weapons.

Basu said the suspect in Tuesday's incident was in custody but not cooperating. He said the man had not been formally identified but was not believed to be known to security forces.

The BBC, citing unnamed sources, said the man was from the Birmingham area and known to police, although not to intelligence or counter-terrorism agencies.

Basu said there were currently no other suspects from the scene of the incident and no indications of further danger.

Police said a silver Ford Fiesta had driven through a group of cyclists and pedestrians during the morning rush hour before hitting a barrier in front of the Houses of Parliament at 7:37 a.m.(0637 GMT).

Video footage showed the vehicle making an illegal turn before veering across the road and into a security lane leading to parliament before smashing into the protective barrier as two police officers jumped to safety.

The man was detained on suspicion of terrorist offences and no weapons were found, Basu said.

Two people were taken to hospital and one woman was still receiving treatment for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Armed officers swarmed the scene and sealed off a large area around parliament that is usually bustling with tourists and government workers.

"I saw the cyclists, injured cyclists. I don't know if he's hit these people or if they've just dived to escape," bystander Jason Williams told reporters.

"It didn't swerve, there was not another car going behind him. It looked like it was planned.

" Images shot by a Euronews journalist showed police pointing their guns at the vehicle shortly after the crash. Footage on social media showed a man being led away in handcuffs.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who like other lawmakers is on holiday during parliament's summer recess, urged Britons to remain vigilant but to carry on as normal.

"For the second time in as many years the home of our democracy, which is a potent symbol of our precious values of tolerance and freedom, has just witnessed terrible scenes just yards from its door," she said in a statement.

Britain is on its second-highest threat level, "severe", meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

May's spokesman said that, since Masood's attack in Westminster last year, 13 Islamist and four far-right plots had been foiled.

At the end of June, security services were carrying out 676 live investigations.

Last week, a Muslim convert admitted plotting to kill more than 100 people by driving a truck into pedestrians on London's Oxford Street, the capital's major shopping thoroughfare.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has previously spoken out about security issues in London, tweeted: "These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength".

Cordons around parliament began to be lifted about six hours after the incident and Westminster Underground station, close to parliament, was reopened. However, streets immediately surrounding the scene remained closed off.
A man is arrested near the Palace of Westminster in London after a Ford Fiesta hit pedestrians, cyclists and a security barrier.