Police make new arrest in Birmingham after Westminster terror attack
AFP
London (AFP) - British police investigating the terror attack on parliament made a new arrest on Sunday as authorities try to piece together the assailant's motive.
A 30-year-old man was arrested in the central city of Birmingham on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
A dozen people have been arrested since 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood launched an assault on parliament on Wednesday, killing four people and leaving 50 injured before he was shot by police.
Nine people have been released without charge, while a 58-year-old man remains in custody and a 32-year-old woman has been released on bail.
Police on Saturday admitted they may never know why Masood chose to drive his hire car into pedestrians before crashing into the fence of the Houses of Parliament and fatally stabbing a policeman.
"We must all accept that there is a possibility we will never understand why he did this. That understanding may have died with him," said senior counter-terrorism officer Neil Basu.
Basu appealed to the public to come forward with information which may shed light on the motive of Masood, a convert to Islam with a violent criminal past.
Police believe he acted alone on the day, although investigators are trying to find out whether he was encouraged or directed by others.
The Islamic State group claimed that one of its "soldiers" carried out the attack, the worst in Britain since the July 2005 bombings which left 52 people dead.
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