A man has been killed in a machete attack and two suspects shot by
police in Woolwich,
south-east London.
Prime Minister David
Cameron said there
were "strong indications that it is a terrorist incident" and the UK would "never buckle" in the face of such attacks.
Footage has emerged
showing a man wielding
a bloodied meat cleaver
and making political
statements.
There are unconfirmed
reports that the dead
man was a soldier.
Both French President
Francois Hollande and
MP Nick Raynsford said
the dead man had been
a soldier at Woolwich
barracks.
The footage shown on
the ITV website shows a man, speaking to the camera, saying: "We must fight them as they fight us. An eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." He added: "I apologise that women have had to witness this today, but in our land our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government, they don't care about you."
The incident took place
before many witnesses
In developments since
the attack, in John Wilson Street, the A205, at 14:20 BST:
Downing Street said
Mr Cameron, who had been planning to stay in Paris overnight after
meeting the French
president, would be
returning to the UK
later on Wednesday
At a meeting of the
government's emergency response
committee, Cobra, it
was decided to tighten security at Woolwich and other barracks in London Both shot men were taken to hospital,
one by air ambulance
One of the men is in
a serious condition, the other is also being treated for injuries
In a joint press conference, Mr Hollande said he wanted to express his solidarity with the UK after the
"murder of a British
soldier", but Mr Cameron did not confirm the victim had been a serviceman
The Ministry of Defence said it was urgently looking into reports the incident had involved a soldier Another Cobra
meeting will be held
on Thursday morning, chaired by Mr Cameron
Home Secretary
Theresa May said she
had been briefed by the
director general of
Security Service MI5,
Andrew Parker, and
Metropolitan Police
Commissioner Bernard
Hogan-Howe on the
"sickening and barbaric"
attack.
Mr Cameron said Britain
had faced "these sort
of attacks", adding: "We
will never buckle in the
face of them.
"People across Britain,
people in every community, I believe,
will utterly condemn
this attack."
He expressed sympathy for the
victim and his family,
saying: "It is the most
appalling crime. We are
obviously seeking, and
the police are urgently
seeking, the full facts
about this case."
One witness, identified
only as James, said two
men had attacked
another man, aged
about 20, who was
wearing a T-shirt of
military charity Help for
Heroes.
"These two guys were
crazed. They were just
animals. They dragged
him from the pavement
and dumped his body in
the middle of the road
and left his body there,"
he told LBC radio.
He said after the
"horrendous" attack,
the two men, who
were also in their 20s,
stood around, waving
knives and a gun, and
asked people to take
pictures of them "as if
they wanted to be on
TV or something".
"They were oblivious to
anything, they were
more worried about
having their photo
taken, running up and
down the road," he said.
Witness Graham Wilders
told the BBC he had
arrived on the scene to
find a car crashed into a
wall and a man on the
ground.
"Two people were lying
over him and I thought
they were trying to
resuscitate him," he
said.
But Mr Wilders said he
had driven on to park
his car, and when he
had returned another
witness had told him
the two men had been
stabbing the man on
the ground.
Thomas, another
witness who contacted
the BBC, said: "I got
there minutes after it
happened because you
could hear gunshots
from Woolwich High
Street.
"Basically two men
carried out an axe
attack on a young army
cadet walking along the
street, by the looks of
things the police responded and then shot them in front of
the public, at the same
time I couldn't really tell
if the cadet was fatally
or not hurt as police
were crowded around
him."
According to senior
Whitehall sources the
people carrying out the
attack were heard to
say: "Allahu Akbar [God
is Great]", BBC political
editor Nick Robinson
reported.
On Twitter, the Mayor
of London Boris Johnson
described the attack as
a "sickening deluded and
unforgivable act of
violence".
Buckingham Palace says
the Queen is concerned
at the news of the
attack and is being kept
informed.

pics and news courtesy www.bbc.com