ISIS: London Attacker a 'an Islamic State Soldier'

ISIS claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack outside Britain's Parliament that left four people dead, the group's Amaq news agency said on Thursday.

"The perpetrator of the attacks yesterday in front of the British parliament in London is an Islamic State soldier and he carried out the operation in response to calls to target citizens of the coalition," the Amaq statement said.

Islamic State, which has controlled parts of Iraq and Syria in recent years, has lost territory this year to local forces in those countries supported by a U.S.-led military coalition.

British police named the attacker, who killed three before being shot dead, as Khalid Masood, saying he had a string of criminal convictions but none for terrorism-related offenses.

Masood, 52, was born in Kent, southeast of London, and had been most recently living in central England, London police said. Known by a number of other aliases, he had not been convicted previously for any terrorism offences, they added.

"Masood was not the subject of any current investigations and there was no prior intelligence about his intent to mount a terrorist attack," they said in a statement.

"However, he was known to police and has a range of previous convictions for assaults, including GBH (grievous bodily harm), possession of offensive weapons and public order offences."

Police said his first conviction was in November 1983 for criminal damage and his last was in December 2003 for possession of a knife.

The link to central England tied in with the news that the car used in the attack had been hired from rental company Enterprise's Spring Hill branch in Birmingham.