IS claims responsibility for Westminster attack

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Westminster attack that claimed the lives of four and injured 40 others.

Amaq, the news agency used by the ISIS to broadcast its propaganda, says the group is responsible for the attack and calls the attacker "a soldier of Islamic State", reported the Guardian.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Theresa May has said the attacker behind the terrorist rampage at the gates of the Houses of Parliament was a British-born man previously known to MI5 due to concerns over violent extremism.

"The assailant, who was shot dead on Wednesday as he attacked police officers in the shadow of Big Ben, was considered to be a peripheral figure and had fallen from the intelligence picture," May told a packed House of Commons.

"Attacker was British born and thought to be inspired by Islamist ideology," May said, reported the CNN.

Five people died after a terrorist attacked Westminster, stabbing a police officer to death as he tried to storm the Parliament, and killing three members of the public as he careered through the heart of the capital in a 4x4 vehicle, according to the Guardian.