Police officers salute during a minute's silence outside New Scotland Yard the morning after an attack by a man driving a car and weilding a knife left five people dead and dozens injured, in London, Britain, March 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

China’s president condemns London attack and says terrorism is a common enemy

President Xi Jinping sent his condolences on Thursday to Queen Elizabeth II following Wednesday’s terror attack in London that left four people dead, including the assailant.

In his message, the president strongly condemned the attack, which targeted Britons and foreign nationals alike, and offered his profound condolences and sincere sympathy to the families and loved ones of those who were killed or injured.

Xi said terrorism was the common enemy of the international community, and noted that China was firmly opposed to it, in all its forms.

British police named the attacker as KahlidMasood, 52, who was originally from the southeast of England but who had been living in Birmingham. They said he had a string of criminal convictions that started in 1983 and continued to 2003, ranging from criminal damage to assault, but that he did not have convictions related to terrorism. British Prime Minister Theresa May said Masood, who was born in Britain, had been investigated for his extremism by British security services but was regarded as a peripheral figure who showed no signs of wanting to carry out attacks.

May, who was rushed to safety from the House of Commons as the attack unfolded, had earlier told Parliament that the incident on Wednesday was an attack on free people everywhere, and she thanked friends around the world whohad stood with the UK.

British police made eight arrests on Thursday in connection with the attack, during raids on six locations in London and Britain’s second-biggest city, Birmingham.

Masood was fatally shot after he drove his car at pedestrians and then stabbed a police officer to death as he tried to enter Parliament.

The Islamic State group said on Thursday the attack was carried out by one of its “soldiers”, although there was no indication it knew Masood’s identity.

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said on Thursday the attacker “carried out the operation in response to calls for targeting citizens of the coalition”, referring to the group of countries fighting IS.

Meanwhile, Premier Li Keqiang, who is on a trip to Australia, said on Thursday he had sent his condolences to Prime Minister May, expressing a strong condemnation of the attack.

Michael Fallon, the UK defense minister, told the BBC the attacker was believed to have been an Islamist extremist, but the investigation was continuing. He said Parliament and all aspects of life in London were continuing as normal on Thursday.

Britain has been on high alert for several years. Its security services monitor about 3,000 individuals, many of whom have fought in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya or Yemen. Sources said Masood did not feature in that list.

The security services are expected to track down the assailant’s associates and those he communicated with and check on the places he visited before the attack.

Officials said Masoodlikely acted alone, but may have been inspired by communications from abroad.They are particularly focused on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and different branches of al-Qaida.

The police officer who was killed was identified as Police Constable Keith Palmer, a 48-year-old father of two.

AyshaFrade, 43, a mother of two, who worked as a teacher in London but came from the Spanish town of Betanzos in Galicia, was killed on Westminster Bridge.

The third victim was named as Kurt Cochran, 54, from Utah in the United States, who was in London to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary.

Those injured included 12 Britons, three French schoolchildren, two Romanians, four South Koreans, two Greeks and one person each from China, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Italy and the US.

Three off-duty police officers were hurt, two seriously.

Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, confirmed that a Chinese tourist suffered minor injuries in the attack.

Wednesday’s incident was the latest in a series of attacks committed for political and religious reasons in Britain. Most were committed by Islamists, but at least two murders were carried out by far-right extremists, including the killing of Jo Cox, a member of Parliament who was killed last year before the referendum on Britain’s future with the European Union.