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| One of the Muslim head-chopping thug. |
LONDON
(AFP) - British police shot and wounded two men after a man thought to be a
serving soldier was killed outside a London barracks, in an attack Prime
Minister David Cameron called "truly shocking".
In a
dramatic move, the government's emergency response committee was being summoned
following the killing which some eyewitness reports suggested was an attempted
beheading using machete-like knives.
Some
early reports suggested the attack might be Islamist-related, although there
was no official confirmation. The incident took place in broad daylight in a
street around 200 metres (yards) from the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich,
a district of southeast London. Police were called at 2:20 pm (1320 GMT) to
reports of one man being assaulted by two others.
"A
number of weapons were reportedly being used in the attack, and this included
reports of a firearm," said police commander Simon Letchford. Local police
officers, then firearms officers arrived on the scene where they found a man
who was later pronounced dead.
"Two
men, who we believe from early reports to have been carrying weapons, were shot
by police. They were taken to separate London hospitals, they are receiving
treatment for their injuries," Letchford said.
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| The British soldier victim dead on the ground. |
He
said there would be a heightened police presence in the area and urged locals
to remain calm. Cameron said on Twitter: "The killing in Woolwich is truly
shocking". He added that he had asked Home Secretary Theresa May,
Britain's interior minister, to chair a meeting of COBRA, the government's
emergency civil contingencies committee.
A
white and blue police evidence tent was visible in the street and police tape
sealed off the scene. Eyewitness pictures showed an air ambulance landing in
the road and three bodies lying on the ground with dozens of onlookers
observing the scene after the police arrived.
Nick
Raynsford, the member of parliament for Woolwich and Greenwich, said his understanding
was that the man found dead was a serving soldier. He said he had spoken to
local borough police commander Richard Wood, and a lieutenant colonel at the
Woolwich army barracks. "One individual is dead, two others are seriously
injured and in hospital," he said.
"We
think a serving soldier was the victim. We don't know the circumstances
surrounding the incident. We do know a number of weapons have been seized. They
include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently. The police clearly
had to take action in order to try and arrest these individuals." The
Ministry of Defence said it was urgently investigating reports that the dead
man was a soldier.
 |
| Two Muslim thugs wounded by police snipers. |
British
PM David Cameron is rushing back to London from France to chair an emergency
meeting of the 'terrorist attack' on a UK soldier. Ed Miliband, leader of the
opposition Labour Party, said on Twitter: "Shocked by appalling events in
Woolwich. Whole country will be horrified by what has happened." The
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic shooting events were staged at a temporary
venue at the Royal Artillery.
The
barracks houses a number of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery -- which
drew former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's coffin to her funeral last month
-- and independent companies of the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards.
The
Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is called in whenever firearms
officers discharge their weapons, said it was investigating. "IPCC
investigators have been deployed to the scene and to the post-incident
process," a spokesman said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you': What man
holding bloody cleaver said after 'hacking soldier in “Help For Heroes” T-shirt
to death just yards from the Woolwich barracks”
- Man tells camera: 'I apologise that women had to witness this today'
- Soldier attacked with meat cleavers and knives in Woolwich, SE London
- Eyewitness says: 'They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting
him'
- Two suspects waited until police arrived before trying to attack them
- Prime Minister David Cameron described the killing as 'truly
shocking'
- Cobra meeting hears there are strong indications it was terrorist
incident
- Suspects used 'a number of weapons' in attack, Metropolitan Police
say
- Muslim Council: Act will no doubt heighten tensions on British
streets
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |
| Woolwich Barracks in London. |
UK Daily Mail - It is thought
that the two men waited around for 20 minutes until police arrived and then
tried to attack them – but were swiftly shot by armed officers. Eyewitnesses
said the ‘crazed’ men, aged in their 20s, launched a ferocious attack and were
‘hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him.’
 |
| One of two black-Muslim head-chopping thugs. |
Luke Huseyin, 32, who lives in a
block of flats on John Wilson Street, Woolwich, close to where the incident
happened said he watched two men murder a man before being shot.
‘It was a blue Vauxhall. Then
two black guys got out of the car dragging a white guy across the road towards
the wall. One of the guys had a knife that looked about a foot long and a
machete and the other bloke had a gun. ’They started slashing him up with the
knife and hitting him in the stomach with the machete. I don’t think it took
long before he was dead. There were people passing by who were screaming and
running away. I’ve never seen anything like it.
This afternoon the area’s MP,
Nick Raynsford, told BBC Radio 5 Live he believed the victim, a man aged in his
20s, was a serving soldier. The man is believed to have been hacked to death
after a car crash. The scene of the attack is just 200 yards from Woolwich
Barracks.
