British soldier knifed to death in suspected London terror attack via Rickey.org Credit: ITV
A man reported to be a British soldier was killed in London on Wednesday in an attack that is being treated as an act of terrorism, NBC News rep...
British soldier knifed to death in suspected London terror attack via Rickey.org Credit: ITV
A man reported to be a British soldier was killed in London on Wednesday in an attack that is being treated as an act of terrorism, NBC News reports.
Eyewitnesses said two knife-wielding assailants confronted the British serviceman and began attacking him, with observers claiming that the soldier was being chopped like a “piece of meat.” The two suspects were later shot by officers after a heated standoff. The two men were taken for medical attention, and were later placed officially under arrest. The police have confirmed the two suspects are currently being treated at separate London hospitals.
Video of the crime shows one of two alleged attackers, with blood-stained hands and holding a machete, explaining the motivation behind the barbaric act, “We swear by Almighty Allah, we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. The only reasons we killed this man is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We apologize that woman had to see this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don’t care about you.”
In the video, obtained exclusively by NBC’s UK news partner, ITV News, the man goes on to say, “Leave our lands and we can all live in peace, that’s all I have to say.”
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a trip to Paris in order to chair an emergency national security meeting back in London. Cameron declared, “It is the most appalling crime. Tonight our thoughts should be with the victim and their families and friends.
“People across Britain, people in every community, I believe, will utterly condemn this attack. We have had these sorts of attacks before in our country and we never buckle in the face of them.”
The Prime Minister would go on to say, “In a free country, the best way to defeat terrorism is to live your life, to show that terrorists can never win.”
Further details via NBC News:
A senior British security source said it appeared to be an “ideologically motivated” killing. “From the look of it, it is indeed a low-tech terror attack,” the source said.
“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.
The Muslim Council of Great Britain condemned the killing, which it said “will no doubt heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom.”
“This is a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly,” it said. “Our thoughts are with the victim and his family.”
A witness identified as James told local radio station LBC that he saw two suspects attack the young victim with knives, including a meat cleaver.
“They were hacking at this poor guy, literally,” he told the station. “They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him.”
Multiple witnesses said the victim was wearing a T-shirt bearing the logo of the veterans charity Help for Heroes.
The attack took place less than a mile from a military barracks, in Woolwich, southeast London.
Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May told ITV News she had been briefed by the Director General of the Security Service MI5 on what she called a “sickening and barbaric” attack.
In New York, the NYPD has increased its coverage of the British consulate, military recruiting stations and other locations, presumably in the event that the act is part of a larger network of terrorist activity against British installations. Department spokesman Paul Browne said the heightened security moves were not made based on information those facilities had been targe
