Xi offers condolences to British monarch after fatal terror attack

President Xi Jinping sent condolences on Thursday to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth following the terror attack in London that left four dead.

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]

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

Xi said terrorism is the common enemy of the international community and China is firmly opposed to terrorism of any form.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, who was rushed to safety from the House of Commons as the attack unfolded, told Parliament on Thursday that Wednesday's attack was an attack on free people everywhere and thanked friends around the world who have said they stand by 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 of Birmingham. The assailant was shot after he ran over dozens of pedestrians in his car before stabbing a policeman to death as he tried to enter the British Parliament.

May said the attacker was British-born, and had been investigated by intelligence services several years ago, but had not been part of the recent intelligence picture, and gave no more details.

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

Michael Fallon, the UK defence minister, told the BBC that they believed the attacker was an Islamist extremist but the investigation was in its early days. He said that Parliament and all aspects of life in London were continuing as normal on Thursday in the wake of the attack.

Britain has been on high alert for a terrorist attack for several years. Its security services monitor around 3,000 individuals, many of whom have fought in Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya or Yemen, but it cannot watch all of them closely.