LONDON — As bystanders watched in horror, two assailants hacked a man to death in broad daylight on a London street Wednesday before being shot and wounded by police, who are investigating the incident as a likely terrorist attack.
The two suspects, who reportedly shouted “God is great!” in Arabic as they mounted their assault, set upon a young a man near a military barracks in the southeast London neighborhood of Woolwich, police said. The attackers allegedly slashed their victim to death with knives or machete-like weapons, then advanced menacingly on officers, who shot them, according to witness accounts.
“There are strong indications that it is a terrorist incident,” said Prime Minister David Cameron, who called it a “most appalling crime.” He added: “We have had these sorts of attacks before in our country, and we never buckle in the face of them.”
Cameron cut short a visit to mainland Europe after the assault. He is scheduled to lead a meeting Thursday morning of his Cabinet’s emergency response committee, indicating the high level of concern with which the government is treating the attack.
After an initial meeting Wednesday evening, the committee announced that the government would step up security near military installations in London. Officials have so far declined to confirm reports that the dead man was a soldier based at the barracks of the Royal Artillery, a fenced-in compound a stone’s throw from where the assault occurred.
Late Wednesday night, riot police gathered to guard against violence by protesters with the far-right, anti-Muslim English Defense League who converged on the attack site.
The two suspects remained hospitalized. Detectives are eager to question them to determine whether the attack was in fact an act of Islamic terrorism and, if so, whether the men were rogue extremists working on their own or affiliated with a terrorist group such as al-Qaeda.
The British television network ITV broadcast footage Wednesday evening of what it said was one of the alleged attackers holding a knife and a machete or cleaver in his bloodied hands and ranting to the person filming him — a passerby who had just gotten off a bus, the network said.
“I apologize that women had to witness this today. But in our lands, our women have to see the same,” the man says in British-accented English. “You people will never be safe! Remove your government — they don’t care about you.”
It was not clear what lands he meant.
Although preliminary indications pointed to a jihadist attack, officials appealed to residents to refrain from making premature judgments.
“It is really far too early for us to draw conclusions,” said Mayor Boris Johnson, who described the attack as “a sickening and unforgivable act of violence.”
