London Attack: What We Know and Don’t Know

In a deadly attack on Wednesday in London, a man driving a sport utility vehicle crushed pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, then stabbed and killed a police officer outside Parliament.

What We Know

• The police on Thursday revised the death toll to four from five, including the assailant and a police officer. About 40 others were wounded.

• Eight people were arrested in London and Birmingham after searches at six properties around Britain. The police said that “a full counterterrorism investigation was underway.”

• The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, describing the assailant as a “soldier.”

• The casualties included 12 Britons, at least four South Koreans, three French children, two Romanians, two Greeks and citizens of several other countries.

• The police said the attacker was born in Britain and known to the authorities.

• Parliament Square and its immediate vicinity remained cordoned off to the public Thursday morning, but lawmakers have resumed their normal business.

What We Don’t Know

• The severity of the injuries among the 40 or so wounded.

• The name of the attacker, although police officials say they believe they have identified him.

• The veracity of the Islamic State’s claim, and the extent to which the group was involved in planning and carrying out the attack.

Photographs — some of them graphic — showed victims lying on Westminster Bridge on the sidewalk outside the Parliament building on Wednesday.

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