Britain's national security chiefs were meeting on Thursday as counter-terrorism police investigated the murder of a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamic extremists. The suspects were shot by police after the gruesome attack and spent the night in hospital under armed guard. Wielding knives including a meat cleaver, two men carried out the attack in broad daylight near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, then delivered an Islamist tirade to passers-by. The victim has yet to be formally identified, but government sources confirmed that he was a member of the armed forces. Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the "appalling crime", adding: "There are strong indications that it is a terrorist incident." He cut short a visit to Paris to fly back for a meeting of the government's emergency response committee, COBRA, which had already met in the hours following the attack. The head of MI5, the domestic intelligence agency, was expected to attend Thursday's meeting along with the head of Scotland Yard, interior minister Theresa May and London mayor Boris Johnson. Chilling amateur footage of one of the suspects shows him with bloody hands and still holding a blood-stained knife and meat-cleaver, telling a member of the public: "You people will never be safe."
