UK police probe Buckingham Palace 'terrorism' incident

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) - Police on Saturday said the incident near Buckingham Palace Friday involving a car driver stopping in front of a police van was now being treated as a terrorist incident.

The Metropolitan Police said three police officers were slightly injured during the arrest of a man who reached for a four-foot (122-centimeter) sword when officers attempted to investigate a car that deliberately drove at a police van and stopped in front of it.

“As they challenged the driver, who was the only occupant in the car, he reached for what we now know to be a four-foot sword which was in the front passenger foot well,” the police statement said.

“The man, who is aged 26 and from the Luton area, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and assault on police,” it said.

“He was further arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 and detectives from the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command are now leading the investigation into this incident,” it said.

“We believe the man was acting alone and we are not looking for other suspects at this stage,” Commander Dean Haydon, head of the MET’s Counter Terrorism Command, said.

“While we cannot speculate on what the man was intending to do -- this will be determined during the course of the investigation -- it is only right that we investigate this as a terrorist incident at this time,” he added.

“This is a timely reminder that the threat from terrorism in the U.K. remains severe,” Haydon also warned.

More than 35 people lost their lives and dozens of others were injured in terrorist attacks in London and Manchester in 2017.