London, May 23: The British government's emergency committee met on Thursday after two attackers butchered a British soldier in a daylight attack in London that raised fears terrorism had returned to the capital.
Prime Minister David Cameron says there are strong indications it was an act of terrorism, and his top advisers will be examining the potential security implications of the attack, which took place near a military barracks in the Woolwich area of the city.
Police on Thursday confirmed the dead man was a serving soldier and said his identity will not be released yet at his family's request. They said a post-mortem examination will be conducted later Thursday.
One of the attackers went on video to explain the crime shouting political statements, gesturing with bloodied hands and waving a meat cleaver. Police shot and wounded the unidentified assailants and took them into custody.
Security has been tightened at military barracks and authorities say they are updating their guidance for military personnel.
Police in the county of Lincolnshire in eastern England said a property was being searched in connection to the attack in Woolwich. Police said a search warrant had been obtained but would not provide details about the search. Police were also scouring the attack site for further clues.
London Mayor Boris Johnson urged the people of the city to remain calm. Leaving the meeting of the emergency committee, Johnson appeared to indicate the attack was being seen as a one-off incident.
“Everything I am hearing leads me to think that Londoners can go about their business in the normal way and we are going to bring the killers to justice,” he said.
Calling it “an appalling murder,” Mr. Cameron earlier said there were “strong indications” it was an act of terrorism, and two other officials said there were signs the attack was motivated by radical Islam.
The incident unfolded on Wednesday afternoon when officers responded to reports of an assault just a few blocks from the Royal Artillery Barracks in the neighborhood of Woolwich.
Images from the scene showed a blue car that appeared to have been used in the attack, its hood crushed and rammed into a signpost on a sidewalk that was smeared with blood. A number of weapons including butchers' knives, a machete and a meat cleaver were strewn on the street.
While there were moments of chaos, one local primary school went into lockdown when a teacher saw the victim's body the scene was striking in its normalcy. Pedestrians milled about with grocery bags and shopping carts as a body lay motionless in the street and the attackers remained on the scene, wielding long knives.
Passers-by filmed what appeared to be one of the attackers, his hands covered in blood, making political statements about “an eye for an eye” as a body lay behind him.
Footage obtained by ITV news and The Sun newspaper showed a man in a dark jacket and knit cap walking toward a camera, clutching a meat cleaver and a knife. Speaking in English with a British accent, he apologised that women passers-by “have had to witness this” barbarity, saying that “in our land our women have to see the same.”
“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you,” the man declared. “We must fight them as they fight us.” The camera then panned away to show a body lying on the ground.
The Associated Press examined the footage to verify its authenticity, cross-referencing images from the scene, aerial shots, the location of a car behind the alleged attacker and the appearance of a body and a car in the background. There was no immediate way for the AP to verify who the cameraman was.
Other images showed the second suspect clutching a long knife as he engaged in conversation with a woman who British media said tried to intervene to prevent further bloodshed.
The Daily Telegraph identified the woman as Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, and said she confronted the attackers, telling them: “It is only you versus many people. You are going to lose.”
Saying she wanted to stop the suspect from attacking anyone else, she asked him if he “did it” and what he wanted.
“He said: ‘I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan. They have nothing to do there,'” she told the newspaper.
Britain has been at the heart of several terror attacks or plots in recent years, the most deadly being the 2005 rush-hour suicide bombings when 52 commuters were killed. More recently, Parviz Khan was convicted in 2008 of plotting to kidnap and behead a British Muslim soldier in Birmingham.
Some extremists have lashed out at Britain's involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Recently, groups have also criticized Britain's assistance in the French-led mission to Mali to root out Islamic extremists in the north.
