Members of the royal family joined government officials and police at a memorial service for the victims of a recent terror attack. The "service of hope" comes two weeks after the rampage outside British parliament.
Image: Reuters/H. McKay
Advertisement
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry joined those injured in the March 22 London terror attack, and victims' families for a service of remembrance on Wednesday.
Some 1,800 people, including police, ambulance workers and fire fighters who helped victims of the attack attended the multi-faith service together with Home Secretary Amber Rudd, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Muslim and Jewish leaders.
The service in Westminster Abbey commemorates the four people killed by a lone attacker who drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing a police officer outside the Houses of Parliament.
Among those at the abbey was Melissa Cochran, whose husband Kurt, 54, was killed in the attack. The couple, from Utah in the United States, had been celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in London when they were caught up in 90-second rampage.
The other victims were Aysha Frade, 44, who worked at a London sixth-form college, retired window cleaner Leslie Rhodes, 75, from south London, and 48-year-old father-of-two Police Constable Keith Palmer.
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend John Hall, also mentioned the dozens of others injured in the attack, before police shot dead the attacker in the Parliament courtyard.
Hall thanked the police and security services for their "vigilance and dedication ... in their vital work of keeping our communities and nations safe from terror and random violence."
"What happened a fortnight ago leaves us bewildered," Hall said. "What could possibly motivate a man to hire a car and take it from Birmingham to Brighton to London, and then drive it fast at people he had never met, couldn't possibly know, against whom he had no personal grudge, no reason to hate them and then run at the gates of the Palace of Westminster to cause another death? It seems likely that we shall never know."
"At a time of sorrow, a time when we are tempted to despair, may we find hope," he added.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Rousseau
Before the service, Prince William placed a wreath at the abbey's Innocent Victims Memorial, a slate circle that remembers those who have suffered war, death, torture and oppression worldwide.
Police later identified the attacker as Khalid Masood. The 52-year-old British citizen had several convictions for violence but had not been not under active counter-terrorism surveillance, police said.
While Masood had an "interest in jihad," police said they found no evidence of any direct link to Islamic State or other terrorist groups.
mcm/rc (AP, dpa)
Attacks on UK Houses of Parliament in London
The London Police are treating the back-to-back series of violent attacks as a "terrorist incident." The attack outside parliament killed four people, including the attacker.
Image: Reuters/E. Keogh
Shots ring out
Shortly before 15:00 UTC, multiple shots followed by screaming were reported outside London's Houses of Parliaments. Authorities rushed to the scene as the House of Commons went into lockdown. The first reports came in from political reporters barred from leaving the premises.
Image: Reuters/E. Keogh
Injuries on Westminster Bridge
A male attacker first ran down pedestrians with an SUV on Westminster Bridge, an area highly frequented by tourists. The vehicle then rammed into a gate near Big Ben.
Image: Reuters/T.Melville
Police cordon off the area
The knife-wielding assailant then fatally stabbed a police officer on Parliament's grounds. The attacker was subsequently shot and killed while authorities secured the area around the Palace of Westminster.
Image: Reuters/S. Wermuth
An attack in the heart of downtown London
Transport for London, greater London's public transport authority, diverted buses in the area of the attacks. People working in the area sought alternative routes home as traffic remained blocked at the end of the work day on Wednesday.
Image: Google Maps
International leaders react
International leaders offered their condolences following the attack. German Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed Germany's support for the UK "in the struggle against all forms of terrorism." The Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon also expressed her sympathies as the Scottish Parliament canceled a debate on a second independence referendum.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Emergency response blankets the area
Individuals present in the affected area described sirens blaring and the drone of helicopters overhead. British media reported "catastrophic injuries" while police confirmed four individuals had been killed. Another 29 people were being treated in hospital for their injuries - seven of them were critically wounded.
Image: Reuters/S.Wermuth
Police raid homes in Birmingham and London
A few hours after the attack, police made eight arrests after conducting armed raids on six homes in London and the central city of Birmingham (pictured above). The raids were part of an investigation into the Westminster attacker.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vernalls
Attacker 'acted alone'
Metropolitan Police counterterrorism chief Mark Rowley told reporters that he believed the assailant "acted alone" and that he was "inspired by international terrorism." Prime Minister Theresa May later said the attacker was British-born and was known to authorities.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/J. Tallis
'IS' claims attack
The militant "Islamic State" (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack later on Thursday, saying the attacker was one of its "soldiers," according to the IS Aamaq news agency. It was not immediately clear whether the attacker was directly connected to the group.
Image: Reuters/S. Wermuth
Normality is 'greatest response to terror'
Prime Minister May hailed the millions of people in London who went about their lives the day after the attack. "It is in these actions - millions of acts of normality - that we find the best response to terrorism," she said. The city will hold a candlelight vigil for the victims on Thursday evening.
