Soldier beheaded in London in apparent terror attack
Witness describes two men wielding butcher knives carrying out horrific assault while shouting ‘Allahu akbar’
May 22, 2013, 8:39 pm
The
scene where British officials said one person has died and at least two
people have been wounded in an attack on Wednesday May 22, 2013. (photo
credit: AP Photo/Nick Ansell/PA)
A British official says a
violent attack near a London barracks is being investigated as a
possible terrorist act. Police said two men attacked another man on
Wednesday. One man is dead and two others were injured.
According to the Daily Telegraph,
the attack took place in the street near a military barracks and the
dead man was a British soldier, who was beheaded by the
knife-wielding attackers.
According to eyewitness accounts, the
attackers shouted ”Allahu akbar” during their assault, and filmed the
attack while it was in progress.
One witness reportedly said the men were
“crazed, like animals” and carried large knives “like you would use in a
butcher’s, they were hacking at this poor guy, we thought they were
trying to remove organs from him.”
It took more than 20 minutes for the authorities to arrive on the scene, he added.
British Prime Minister David Cameron called
the killing “truly shocking” and said he had asked Home Secretary
Theresa May to call an urgent meeting of the government’s emergency
committee.
A British government official who spoke on
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the
investigation said the details that had emerged were indicative of a
“terrorist-motivated attack.”
May said she had been briefed by Britain’s
domestic security service, MI5, and by police on what she called a
“sickening and barbaric” attack.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it was urgently investigating reports that a soldier was killed in the incident.
Police said armed officers responded to
reports of the assault Wednesday afternoon just a few blocks from a
military training barracks in southeast London.
Commander Simon Letchford said a number of weapons — including possibly a firearm — were used in the attack.
He confirmed that one man was found dead at
the scene and that two men were shot by police and taken to separate
London hospitals. One of them is in serious condition, according to
London Ambulance Service.
Live television images of the scene showed a
trail of blood staining a pavement, cordoned off streets and crime scene
investigators marking the scene.
David Dixon, head teacher of a nearby primary
school, said police told him there was a “serious” incident. He said he
saw body lying in the road outside.
He told the BBC that he then made sure
children were inside and put the school into lockdown mode. He said he
then heard shots fired.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission,
which is called in when officers are involved in shootings, confirmed
that it is investigating the incident, which took place near the Royal
Artillery Barracks.
The barracks — which house a number of the
King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery and independent companies of the
Grenadier and Coldstream Guards — were the site of shooting events
during the 2012 London Olympics.
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