TheCable

A total of nine people are in police custody over Wednesday’s terror attack near UK Parliament, says Mark Rowley, acting deputy commissioner of London metropolitan police.

Rowley made this known during a press conference on Friday.

“Nine people remain in our custody and one woman has been released on bail. We have searches at five addresses ongoing – 16 searches have concluded. So far we have seized 2,700 items from our searches including massive of amounts of computer data,” he said.

“We have had contact with approximately 3,500 witnesses – including 1,000 from people on Westminster Bridge and around 2,500 who were within the Parliamentary Estate, and we have received hundreds of uploads to our online platform.”

The attacker, identified as Khalid Masood, was a British-born man who had several convictions and used several aliases.

He was born Adrian Russell Ajao, police said.

Rowley said another victim of the attack had died while two people were in critical condition.

“Sadly last night another man died in hospital as a result of the injuries he sustained during the attack. Whilst we await formal identification, we believe that he is Leslie Rhodes, aged 75, from Streatham in south London,” he said.

“Furthermore, two people remain in hospital in what is described as a critical condition, and one person is considered to have life threatening injuries.

“Two of our officers who were injured on Westminster Bridge in the attack also remain in hospital and also have sustained significant injuries.

“At least 50 people were injured with 31 requiring hospital treatment as the attack unfolded and those affected include a real cross section of ages and from at least 12 nationalities.”

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Masood was one of its “soldiers”.