The incident, which police have called a terrorist act, happened around 8:30 p.m. Friday. The officers were patrolling a restricted area of Constitution Hill near Buckingham Palace when a blue Toyota Prius drove up to their van, according to a statement by the Metropolitan Police.

“As they challenged the driver, who was the only occupant in the car, he reached for what we now know to be a four-foot sword,” the statement said.

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He was subdued with irritant spray, police said. Two of the officers received minor injuries in the scuffle. A third wasn’t injured. Most officers in London do not carry guns.

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“We turned up, and there was one police van and one car; there was also a civilian’s car that had veered towards the police car,” Kiana Williamson, an eyewitness, told BBC. “They were trying to get the man out of the car, shouting; more police were arriving on to the scene and the man was fighting back.”

“I saw one injured policeman with an injury to his arm, although it didn’t look severe,” she added. “He was being tended to by another officer.”

Police have not released the suspect’s name but said he is 26 and from the Luton area, about 45 miles northwest of Buckingham Palace.

He was arrested on suspicion of inflicting grievous bodily harm and assaulting police. He also faces charges under Terrorism Act 2000.

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As the suspect sat in a jail cell in central London, investigators fanned out to the town where he lives. On Saturday, they were conducting searches connected to the case. Investigators said that they thought the man acted alone and that they weren’t looking for other suspects in the case.

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“This is a timely reminder that the threat from terrorism in the U.K. remains severe,” said Cmdr. Dean Haydon, who heads the police department’s counterterrorism unit. “The police, together with the security services, are doing everything we can to protect the public and we already have an enhanced policing plan over the Bank Holiday weekend to keep the public safe.”

In a tweet, British Prime Minister Theresa May thanked the officers for acting “quickly and bravely to protect the public.”

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In a statement posted on Facebook, London Mayor Sadiq Khan thanked police for “ensuring that not a single member of the public was injured” and told Londoners “it is important we are all alert but not alarmed.”

Friday's attack was the latest in a string of suspected terrorism incidents for a city and nation that’s been besieged by them this year.

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In June, suspected terrorists zigzagged a van through a crowd on London Bridge, then got out and stabbed people with large knives. Seven people were killed.

In March, a similar attack on a bridge leading to Parliament resulted in the deaths of four people and 40 more being injured.

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And in May, the United Kingdom endured the worst terrorist attack on British soil in more than a decade after a suicide bomber ignited explosives at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester. In all, 22 people were killed, many of them teens. The Islamic State claimed responsibility, saying one of its “soldiers” was responsible.