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PIX: 'Soldier beheaded' in suspected terror attack in London

Last updated on: May 23, 2013 01:20 IST

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Image: A police forensics officer investigates a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich on Wednesday
Photographs: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

In a suspected terror attack, a person believed to be a British soldier was Wednesday beheaded near a barrack here by two reported Islamists who were later shot and wounded by the police.

British police shot and wounded the two assailants, a senior officer said, after reports that a soldier was killed in a Woolwich street near a London army barracks.

"Two men, who we believe from early reports to have been carrying weapons, were shot by police," Commander Simon Letchford said.

10, Downing Street has called a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee after the incident, which Prime Minister David Cameron described as "truly shocking".

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Image: Police officers guard a cordon set up around a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich
Photographs: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Senior police officers are thought to believe the killing was a politically-motivated Islamist terrorist attack and video has emerged that appears to show one of the alleged attackers attempting to justify the pair's actions, the Telegraph reported.

Dozens of weapons -- including a number of knives – and pools of blood could be seen on the ground, where a man wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt is said to have been attacked by two men.

According BBC quoting senior Whitehall sources, the people carrying out the attack were heard saying 'Allahu Akbar' [God is Great].

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Image: Police officers carry equipment while investigating a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich
Photographs: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Local MP Nick Raynsford said he had been told the man attacked on the street was a soldier serving at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Whitehall sources have told the BBC it is "a fair supposition" that the incident was a terrorist incident but police have not commented publicly on the suggestion.

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Image: Police officers guard a cordon set up around a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich
Photographs: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

London Ambulance Service confirmed one man had been found dead at the scene.

It said two men had been taken to hospital, one in a serious condition.

One of the men was airlifted from the scene, and another was taken away by road ambulance.

 

 

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