Woolwich attacker brandishing a knive with bloodied hands.
Image courtesy of ITV News
The man killed in Woolwich last night was attacked because he was a member of the British army, and the attackers wanted to “start a war in London”, explaining to one witness:
“I killed him because he killed Muslims and I am fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan they have nothing to do there”
The first reports of an incident came in yesterday around 14:20 GMT, when police and an ambulance were called to attend a “serious incident” in John Wilson Street, Woolwich near to the army barracks.
A man wearing a “Help for Heroes” t-shirt was reported to have been killed with “machete or sword”, with attackers brandishing knives and at least one firearm and “hacking” at the body. Later reports corrected this information, with the large knife being described as a meat cleaver.
One of the first witnesses on the scene, Mrs Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, was the first to check the condition of the victim and found no pulse. She also spoke to the attackers, and discovered their motives for revenge against the British military for actions against Muslim populations in Afghanistan. Describing the one of the attackers to a Daily Telegraph reporter, she said:
He was not high, he was not on drugs, he was not an alcoholic or drunk, he was just distressed, upset. He was in full control of his decisions and ready to everything he wanted to do.
Here is a clip broadcast by ITV News of one of the attackers speaking to the camera of another witness:
Armed officers and air ambulance attended scene, with the police shooting the two attackers before the ambulance teams could move in and check the condition of the men involved.
The victim of the attack was dead at the scene. The attackers were transported to separate hospitals, one attacker was seriously injured and evacuated by air ambulance, whilst the other was transported by road.
Speaking in Paris yesterday evening before cutting short his trip and returning to London, Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the killings as “sickening” and “shocking” and describe the “strong indications that it is a terrorist incident”. Continuing, he said:
“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.”
Speaking after chairing the first COBRA meeting on 22 May, Home Secretary Theresa May said:
“What happened today in Woolwich was a sickening and barbaric attack…The police and Security Service are establishing the full facts of this barbaric case, but there is a strong indication that it was an act of terrorism…This attack was an attack on everyone in the United Kingdom, and it will be condemned by people from every community.”
