British-Nigerians killed British Soldier

The world spoke yesterday against Wednesday’s killing of a British soldier in Southeast London by two men identified as British with Nigerian descent.
British Prime Minister David Cameron described the incident as a terror attack.
One of the suspects said they killed the soldier, Lee Righy, of the Second Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in Woolwich, London because the British military has been killing Muslims.
Cameron, President Goodluck Jonathan, United States President Barack Obama and other world leaders condemned the action.
The Muslim leadership in Britain also decried the killing of the soldier in front of a barrack.
The suspects were accused of hacking the soldier to death on a London street in revenge for wars in Muslim countries. They were known to security services, a source close to the investigation said yesterday.
One man was filmed justifying the killing as he stood by the body, holding a knife and meat cleaver in bloodied hands. He was named by acquaintances as 28-year-old Londoner Michael Adebolajo – a British-born convert to radical Islam. So frenzied was the attack, some witnesses thought they tried to behead the victim.
The attack, just a month after the Boston Marathon bombing and the first Islamist killing in Britain since local suicide bombers killed 52 people in London in 2005, revived fears of “lone wolves” who may have had no direct contact with al Qaeda.
British media said police raided homes of relatives in the city and near the town of Lincoln. Adebolajo and the other man, who may have been born abroad and later naturalised as British, are both in custody in hospitals after being shot by police.
Cameron held an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs to assess the response to what he called a “terrorist” attack; it was the first deadly strike in mainland Britain since local Islamists killed dozens in London in 2005.
“We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms,” Cameron said outside his Downing Street office.
“This was not just an attack on Britain and on the British way of life; it was also a betrayal of Islam and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act.”
He said there would be a review of how intelligence had been handled – Adebolajo had been known to authorities for handing out radical Islamist pamphlets in Woolwich.
One source close to the inquiry said the local backgrounds of the suspects in a multicultural metropolis – nearly 40 per cent of Londoners were born abroad – and the simplicity of the attack made prevention difficult:
“Apart from being horribly barbaric, this was relatively straightforward to carry out,” the source said. “This was quite low-tech and that is frankly pretty challenging.”
Anjem Choudary, one of Britain’s most recognised Islamist clerics, told Reuters Adebolajo was known to fellow Muslims as Mujahid – a name meaning “warrior”.
“He used to attend a few demonstrations and activities that we used to have in the past.”
He added that he had not seen him for about two years. “When I knew him, he was a very pleasant man,” Choudary said. “He was peaceful, unassuming and I don’t think there’s any reason to think he would do anything violent.”
The two men used a car to run down the young soldier near Woolwich Barracks in southeast London and attempted to behead him with a meat cleaver and knives, witnesses said, before telling shocked bystanders they acted in revenge for British wars in Muslim countries.
A dramatic clip filmed by an onlooker showed one of the men, identified as Adebolajo, his hands covered in blood and speaking in a local accent apologising for taking his action in front of women but justifying it on religious grounds:
“We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day,” he said. “This British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
President Jonathan, in a statement by his Special Adviser Media, Reuben Abati, expressed shock at the terrorist attack and killing of the soldier.
“He conveys his sincere condolences to the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the British people over this senseless and barbaric act, and shares their grief at this moment.
“President Jonathan notes that a terrorist attack anywhere is an attack on the way of life of all free nations and must be collectively condemned by all persons irrespective of race, ethnicity or religion.
“It is in this spirit that the Nigerian government is partnering with the British Government, as well as all other stakeholder sovereigns to stand up to and fight terrorism and extremism in whatever guise or pretence it chooses to present itself.
“President Jonathan recognises that each environment presents its own unique challenges and peculiarities and actions taken by affected nations may differ, yet the resolve to confront and defeat this threat should never be in doubt.
“President Jonathan says Nigerians are collectively resolute about the need to protect the freedoms that define our existence and inter-relationships at home and overseas. Our recent past tells us that when we pull together, this common enemy and threat will eventually be defeated,” the statement said.
Cameron said “nothing in Islam justifies this dreadful attack”.
“The people who did this were trying to divide us but they should know that something like this will only make us stronger.
“It is not just an attack on Britain and the British way of life but a betrayal of Islam.
“There is no justification for this act, and the fault lies solely and purely with those responsible,” Cameron said.
He urged the public not to be deterred by the incident saying, “one of the best ways to defeat terrorism is to go about our normal lives.”
Mr Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, described the incident as horrific, saying those responsible “will be brought speedily to justice”.
Johnson, who visited the scene of the attack, said Islam or the British foreign policy should not be blamed for the incident as the attackers acted on their own.

Culled from The Nation