Soldier hacked to death in London in suspected terror attack

[Xed]

Soldier hacked to death in London in suspected Islamist attack

(Reuters) - A British soldier was hacked to death by two men shouting Islamic slogans in a south London street on Wednesday, in what the government said appeared to be a terrorist attack.

Video footage filmed by an onlooker just minutes after the killing showed an angry man with hands covered in blood, holding a bloodied meat cleaver and a knife.

"You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don't care about you," the man, a black man in his 20s or 30s wearing trainers and jeans and speaking with a local accent, said in the footage obtained by Britain's ITV news channel.

"I apologize that women had to witness that, but in our lands our women have to see the same thing," the man said.

Police said they later shot two suspects who were carrying weapons and took them into custody.

Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a visit to France to return to London and chair an emergency national security meeting. He said there were strong indications that the killing was a terrorist incident.

The attackers pounced on the victim in broad daylight in a street in the southeast district of Woolwich near an army barracks.

After making his remarks in the video, the man with the bloody knives walked back to the scene and spoke to the other attacker casually.

Media quoted witnesses as saying the attackers had shouted "God is greatest" in Arabic while stabbing the victim, whom they tried to behead.

Witnesses said the victim was wearing a T-shirt saying "Help for Heroes", the name of a charity formed to help wounded British veterans. Britain has had troops deployed in Afghanistan since 2001 and had troops in Iraq from 2003-2009.

"The police are urgently seeking the full facts about this case but there are strong indications that it is a terrorist incident," Cameron said before cutting short talks with French President Francois Hollande to return home.

"We have had these sorts of attacks before in our country and we never buckle in the face of them," he said.

The authorities did not immediately confirm the identity of the victim, but a source told Reuters it may have been a member of the military.

Police sealed off streets around the Woolwich area in southeast London and helicopters hovered overhead after the attack. Pools of blood stained the street.

"I am afraid it is overwhelmingly likely now to be a terrorist attack, the kind the city has seen before," London mayor Boris Johnson said in televised remarks.

"LONE WOLVES"

London was last hit by a serious militant attack in July 2005, when four young Islamists set off suicide bombs on the public transport network, killing 52 people and wounding hundreds. A similar attempted attack two weeks later was thwarted.

British counter-terrorism chiefs have recently warned that radicalized individuals, so-called "lone wolves" who might have had no direct contact with al Qaeda, posed as great a risk as those who plotted attacks on the lines of the 2005 bombings.

The bombing attacks on the Boston Marathon last month, which U.S. authorities blame on two brothers, have raised the profile of the "lone wolf" threat in the West. A French-Algerian gunman killed three off-duty French soldiers and four Jewish civilians on a rampage in southern France last year.

Britain's involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past decade has often stirred anger among British Muslims and occasionally made soldiers a target at home. British police have foiled at least two major plots in which Islamist suspects were accused of planning to kill off-duty troops.

Local residents expressed shock at Wednesday's killing.

Fred Oyat, a 44-year-old local resident, said he witnessed the attack from the window of his high-rise apartment overlooking the scene.

"The victim was white," he told Reuters. "I was in my house when four shots rung out. I went to the window I saw a man lying on the ground with a lot of blood."

Ahmed Jama, a 26-year-old resident, laid flowers down at the scene as a sign of respect to the families involved.

"This has nothing to do with Islam, this has nothing to do with our religion. This has nothing to do with Allah," he said "It has nothing to do with Islam. It's heartbreaking, it's heartbreaking."

A number of weapons were reportedly used in the attack, including a firearm, police said. Security has been tightened at all London barracks.

Home Secretary Theresa May said in a statement: "This is a sickening and barbaric attack."

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[JayJ]

"Terrorist Attack". Good old fear mongering for a PM struggling for popularity, when an election is not too far away.

[Phys]

Looks like a lone wolf same as Boston Bombing.

[Ry]

Well Boston wasn't a lone wolf there are now two dead and one with a cut throat in that one, and in this London hatchet story two men have been arrested already so far. Something is missing. I don't know about this one, the story is just too story-book and over the top. The body has a severe lack of blood on the ground and the killers didn't even bother running away they made a video right there over the corpse and got shot and arrested 3 feet away from it. Also the third Boston suspect that the FBI killed while they were questioning him they now say suddenly brandished a "machete." .... really?

I know what you mean by "lone wolf" as in not connected to al qaeda, but see I wouldn't draw the line there. Tamerlan was connected to a terrorist group, he was connected to the CIA who recruited him and Plotnick to aid Chechen terrorists in Russia and then the FBI denied knowing anything about him until they were forced to admit it. Even more of a screw up was how their uncle was married to G.Fuller's daughter. Fuller was Station Chief in Kabul and vice chair of the NIC.

It's not just vague relations. Tamerlan met with Makmud Mansur Nidal a recruiter for Chechen terrorist, six times. It was enough for the Russian to put a second request in to the FBI to look into him. On top of that Tamerlan's boxing cohort and fellow professed Islamist William Plotnick who was in Russia with him, died in a shoot out with Russian security forces. Tamerlan returned to the US three days after that. The FBI questioned him and said they didn't find anything. More likely is the CIA told the FBI to butt out because Tamerlan was one of their own privateer terrorist. Now as for Boston obviously they broke script, it was completely counter to US interest to have Chechens commit a terror attack on US soil. Some will point to the police state growth as a justification, but I do not. If that was the aim they could have just as easily set of terrorist from anywhere else, there is no reason to shoot them selves in the foot using Chechens.

They acted on their own. The police arrested and executed Tamerlan. There is NO WAY he could go to trial. they had to assassinated him because like Anwar Awlaki because he knew too much and could reveal too much in a trial. The younger brother seems to have genuinely been in the dark.

[Ry]

notice what most of the videos going around cut out of his rant?

<script height="348px" width="620px" src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#pbid ... "></script>

A Muslim killed a soldier now everyone freak out. But like he said when British Soldiers kill countless Muslims who are not even soldiers with bombs, they don't even care.

The difference between them and myself is I condemn both.

[Tim]

A Muslim killed a soldier now everyone freak out. But like he said when British Soldiers kill countless Muslims who are not even soldiers with bombs, they don't even care.

The difference between them and myself is I condemn both.

Why didn't he go to Afghanistan or Iraq and fight them there then? This was cowardly. You can't just hack people to death if you don't like them for being in the military. Sounds like the UK's "Spring" chickens are coming home to roost.

[Bender]

notice what most of the videos going around cut out of his rant?

<script height="348px" width="620px" src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#pbid ... "></script>

A Muslim killed a soldier now everyone freak out. But like he said when British Soldiers kill countless Muslims who are not even soldiers with bombs, they don't even care.

The difference between them and myself is I condemn both.

Strangest of strangest clips I've ever seen. What's with this calm atmosphere? Where is the panic? He just killed a man, stands around like he has something to add to his actions like an explanation, a footnote, then really walks up to the camera (what the fuck??!!) and starts talking like what he does has meaning in the realm of all things important. All things aside, he just murdered a person.
To be honest, I've seen disaster rehearsals with more panic and mayhem then this. I'll go and check the uncut version now.

[Ry]

seems like a LIOP

I know its not popular but I dont have sympathy for a soldier who was a paid killer, getting killed by the same people he collectively was killing.

[Tim]

I don't either but I think it was cowardly because it wasn't on the battlefield. If they're that angry, go fight them in Afghanistan or Iraq when the British were there. By hitting him with a car and then using a hatchet just shows cowardice in my opinion.

It's actually not Islamic to do such either. Only if he's in combat is he considered a legitimate target for Muslims.

[Ry]

I don't either but I think it was cowardly because it wasn't on the battlefield.

I understand that, but I think that was the point because soldiers are killing scores of people who are not on the battle field. It was supposed to be an eye for an eye.