British citizen of Sudanese origin Salih Khater was driving the car that injured three persons in a terror attack outside the UK's Parliament, government sources said today.
The 29-year-old, who has studied electrical engineering in Sudan, lived in Birmingham's Sparkhill district. He describes himself as a shop manager.
He was held on suspicion of terrorism by Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command after the crash yesterday.
Khater, a British citizen originally from Sudan, continues to be questioned at a south London police station as searches are undertaken at three addresses in Birmingham and Nottingham as part of the investigation.
It has emerged that he spent 90 minutes trawling the area around the Houses of Parliament before speeding into the barriers, having travelled up from Birmingham, 200 kms from here, overnight on Monday.
The suspect, who is yet to be officially named by police, had studied at Sudan University of Science and Technology, according to his Facebook page.
Abubakr Ibrahim, a childhood friend of Khater, told The Times: "No, no, no. He is not a terrorist. I have known him since childhood. He is a good man."
Ibrahim said: "His family are very simple and they let him travel to London to help them."
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