London attacker taught English in Saudi Arabia
More details about Khalid Masood’s travels, confirmed by the Saudi Arabian embassy in Britain, emerged Saturday amid a massive British police effort to discover how a homegrown ex-con with a violent streak became radicalized and why he launched a deadly attack Wednesday on Westminster Bridge.
The embassy said Saudi security services didn’t track Masood and he didn’t have a criminal record there.
Masood drove his rented sport utility vehicle across London’s Westminster Bridge on Wednesday, striking pedestrians.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack, calling him a “soldier” who responded to its demands that followers attack countries in the coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Ian Blair told the BBC that changes to the “outer soft ring” of Parliament’s security plan are likely in the aftermath of Masood’s attack.
Hundreds of British police have been working to determine Masood’s motives and are scouring his communications systems, including his possible use of the encrypted WhatsApp device, to help determine if he had any accomplices.