UK seeks answers in soldier's brutal death

Police officers lay down floral tributes handed to them by members of the public at the scene of a terror attack in Woolwich, southeast London, on Thursday. Sang Tan / Associated Press

A floral tribute in memory of the victim is seen outside the Royal Artillery Barracks near the scene of a terror attack in Woolwich on Thursday. Sang Tan / Associated Press

One of the men speaks following the attack in Woolwich on Wednesday. The Sun via Agence France-Presse

Victim hacked to death by 2 men in London neighborhood

British Prime Minister David Cameron convened an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs on Thursday after two men hacked a soldier to death with meat cleavers on a London street.

A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker just minutes after Wednesday's killing showed a man with hands covered in blood shouting Islamic slogans and promising revenge on Britain for its participation in wars in the Muslim world.

"We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day," the black man in his 20s or 30s, wearing a wool jacket and jeans and speaking with a local accent, shouted in the footage obtained by Britain's ITV news channel.

"I apologize that women have had to witness this today, but in our lands our women have to see the same. ... This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," he said.

Chilling images of a blood-soaked killer urging Britons to overthrow their government or risk having their children face a fate similar to a dead soldier lying just yards away were splashed across the front pages of newspapers.

Police shot the two suspects while trying to arrest them, and the wounded men were taken into custody. No information was immediately released about the identity of the suspects.

PM cuts visit short

Cameron condemned the "appalling crime", adding: "There are strong indications that it is a terrorist incident."

He chaired an emergency national security meeting with the chiefs of Britain's intelligence agencies and top officials after cutting short a visit to Paris to fly back.

"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 attack happened on the edge of London's sprawling Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, a south London working-class district that has long-standing historic links to the military.

The authorities did not immediately confirm the identity of the slain man. The British government normally withholds the identities of slain service members until their families are informed.

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 2003-09.

Before he was stabbed to death, the victim was knocked over by a blue car that then rammed into a lamppost. The attackers pounced on him in broad daylight in a busy residential 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. Police said in a statement that the murder investigation was led by the Counter Terrorism Command, a specialist branch within the London force.

Police also found what appeared to be a rusty revolver.

London was last hit by a serious militant attack in July 2005, when four young men set off suicide bombs on the public transport network, killing 52 people and wounding hundreds. A similar attempted attack 2 weeks later was thwarted.

Reuters-AP-AFP

(China Daily 05/24/2013 page12)