Buckingham Palace attack: Mohiussunnath Choudhury charged with preparing act of terrorism

A man has been charged with terror offences after three police officers were injured in a sword attack outside Buckingham Palace.

Mohiussunnath Choudhury, a 26-year-old man from Luton, has been charged under the Terrorism Act 2006 with “engaging in conduct in preparation for giving effect to his intention to commit an act of terrorism”.

He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later today.

A second man arrested in relation to the case, aged 30 from west London, has been released from custody with no further action.

The Metropolitan Police said three officers were injured in the incident on 25 August, when a car was driven towards their van in a restricted area on Constitution Hill.

“As police officers challenged the driver, who was the only occupant in the car, he reached for what we now know to be a 4ft sword, which was in the front passenger footwell,” a spokesperson said.

“The officers acted very quickly to detain him. During a struggle the three officers sustained minor injuries. The man, who repeatedly shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’, was incapacitated with CS spray.”

It is understood that no members of the royal family were in Buckingham Palace at the time, with the incident sparking a large evacuation around the palace, St James’s Park and The Mall.

The three unarmed officers, from the local Westminster force, were injured during the struggle to detain the suspect.

Two officers were taken by ambulance to hospital with minor cuts and discharged a short time later, while the third did not require hospital treatment.

Commander Dean Haydon, the head of the Met’s counter terrorism command, paid tribute to their “bravery and professionalism” during the incident, where no members of the public were injured.

Four terror attacks have hit the UK so far this year, in Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, which was not Islamist related.

Europe remains on high alert following a string of Isis-related attacks that have killed more than 340 victims in western Europe since 2014.