UK parliament attack suspect charged with attempted murder

This is an undated image of Salih Khater taken from his Facebook page. Khater, a British citizen originally from Sudan, was arrested Tuesday after striking cyclists, then plowing his car into a security barrier. (Salih Khater, Facebook via AP)

A man accused of crashing his car into the security barriers surrounding Britain’s Houses of Parliament was charged Saturday with attempted murder, police said.

Salih Khater, 29, a Sudanese-born British national living in Birmingham, central England, will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Monday, police said.

He is charged with one count of attempting to murder members of the public and one of attempting to murder police officers following the incident outside London’s iconic Palace of Westminster on Tuesday.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), England’s state prosecutors, are treating the case as terrorism, the police said.

“The charges follow an incident in which Khater drove his car into a stationary group of members of the public then at police officers, before crashing into the barriers outside the Houses of Parliament,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

“Due to the methodology, iconic location and the alleged targeting of civilians and police officers, the CPS are treating this case as terrorism.”

Khater is being charged under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.