Woolwich killing:'Terrorist pair' hack 'serving soldier' to death in horrific machete attack

One of the men behind a barbaric terror attack on the streets of London today was filmed wielding a bloodied meat cleaver and saying, "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you."

The black man, dressed in a grey hooded jacket and black woolly hat, apologises to members of the public who witnessed the horrific scenes before making a number of political statements.

WARNING: Graphic image follows which some readers may find distressing

In the footage, obtained by ITV News, he is heard to say: "We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

"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 attacker, who spoke clear English without a foreign accent, is then seen walking towards his victim, lying in the street in Woolwich, south east London. Another man is stood over the body.

The two men were later shot by armed police after a 'serving soldier' was stabbed to death in a 'crazed' suspected terrorist attack.

The young victim in Woolwich, south east London, was said to have been hacked with knives, including a meat cleaver, by two black men in broad daylight.

Horrified eyewitness claimed the attackers then 'stood around waving knives and guns...asking people to take pictures', after slashing their victim 'like a piece of meat'.

It emerged this afternoon that police are treating the slaying as a 'suspected terrorist attack', with one Whitehall source making unconfirmed claims the attackers were heard to shout 'Allah Akbar'.

One witness, identified as James, said he and his partner saw two black men dumped the victim's body in the middle of a busy road.

"They were hacking at this poor guy, literally," he told LBC.

"They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him.

Fighting back tears, James said the men treated their victim as a "piece of meat" after he was dead.

"These two guys were crazed," he told the radio station.

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Witness James said that after the "horrendous" attack, the two men, in their 20s, just stood around, waving knives and a gun, even asking people nearby 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.

"They had no intention of running off or leaving or anything.

"In my opinion, they were waiting for the police to arrive to be shot by the police. That's the only thing I can think.

"It's horrendous what they were doing to that guy."

The latest pictures from the scene in Woolwich:



John Wilson Street was shut in both directions between Artillery Place and New Ferry Approach.

Prime Minister David Cameron described the Woolwich killing as "truly shocking" and said he had asked the Home Secretary to chair a meeting of Cobra, the Government's emergency committee.

Pictures showing three men lying on the ground appeared on Twitter shortly after the incident.

The images also appeared to show knives and bloodstains at the junction of John Wilson Street and Wellington Street.

Witnesses described the incident on Twitter as ''horrific''.

[Woolwich attackers 'filmed each other']

One user, using the account @Boyadee, wrote of seeing two men decapitate another man in front of him as he went to a nearby shop.

He suggested that the men looked like they were on drugs, waiting for the police to arrive and then going towards them with "just two machete and an old rusty lookin revolver".

Woolwich and Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford said it was his understanding that one person, a serving soldier, was dead and the two alleged suspects were in a serious condition in hospital.

Mr Raynsford said: "The incident occurred early afternoon. One individual is dead, two others are seriously injured and in hospital.

"We do know a number of weapons have been seized. They include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently.

Officers were called to John Wilson Street in Woolwich, south east London, at around 2.20pm today and the immediate area was shut down.

On its Twitter account, the Metropolitan Police helicopter team called the incident 'serious'.

A spokeswoman for London Ambulance Service said: "We were called a 2.20pm to reports of an incident at John Wilson Street.

"We sent two responders in cars, three ambulance crews, two duty officers and London Air Ambulance were called out.

"We still have staff at the scene."