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Cameron: Attack betrayed Islam

May 23, 2013

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said the brutal killing of a soldier by two suspected Islamists was an attack on Britain and its way of life. He has labeled the killing "a betrayal of Islam."

https://p.dw.com/p/18caw
A police forensics officer investigates a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich, southeast London May 22, 2013. British Prime Minister David Cameron has called a meeting of his government's emergency Cobra security committee after the killing of a man in south London, his office said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth (BRITAIN - Tags: CRIME LAW POLITICS TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)
Image: Reuters

Cameron spoke on Thursday following the attack the day before, in which a soldier was brutally murdered in broad daylight near army barracks in London, by two men shouting Jihadist slogans.

Cameron held an emergency meeting of his intelligence chiefs to analyze the response to what he has labeled a "terror" attack, which is the first to strike mainland Britain since dozens were killed in London in 2005 by local Islamists.

"We will never give in to terror or terrorism in any of its forms," Cameron told reporters outside his Downing Street residence.

AATTENTION EDITORS - VISUAL COVERAGE OF SCENES OF INJURY OR DEATH A man with bloodied hands and knives walks across a street past the body of a man in a still image from amateur video that shows the immediate aftermath of an attack in which a man was killed in southeast London May 22, 2013. A man was hacked to death in a street near an army barracks in London on Wednesday in what Prime Minister David Cameron said appeared to be a politically motivated attack. MANDATORY CREDIT to ITV News. REUTERS/ITV News via Reuters TV (BRITAIN - Tags: CRIME LAW MILITARY CIVIL UNREST) USE FOR 48 HOURS ONLY. NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. NO ONLINE USE. NOT FOR SALE FOR INTERNET DISPLAY. MANDATORY CREDIT. TEMPLATE OUT
One of the suspects spoke to bystanders after the attack.Image: Reuters

"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," Cameron said.

On Wednesday, ITV news broadcast footage taken at the scene in which a man carrying a knife and a meat cleaver in his blood-covered hands told the camera: "We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you."

"You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don't care about you," he said.

Both suspects in the attack are in custody after being shot by police.

jr/hc (AFP, dpa, Reuters)