Reuters/London
Britain’s security services faced questions yesterday over whether they could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a busy London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers.
The two suspects, Michael Adebolajo, 28 and Michael Adebowale, 22, are under guard in hospitals after being shot and arrested by police after the murder of 25-year-old Afghan war veteran Lee Rigby on Wednesday in broad daylight. They have not yet been charged.
Adebolajo, filmed justifying the killing as he stood near the body holding a knife and meat cleaver in bloodied hands, was born in Britain to a Nigerian immigrant family.
Adebowale is a naturalised British citizen born in Nigeria.
Another man and a woman have also been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, an early indication that police are investigating whether the attack was part of a wider plot.
Prime Minister David Cameron said a parliamentary committee would carry out an investigation into the role of the security services.
Britain’s MI5 domestic spy agency had been aware of the men, but neither was considered a threat, a government source said.
Dramatic video footage showing the moment when police shot the two men was published on a newspaper’s website yesterday.
The shaky, 10-second clip shows one of the men sprinting towards a police car with a knife in his hand before he is shot and tumbles to the ground. “It is important for the public to know that the security services and the police are operating properly,” former London police chief Ian Blair told BBC radio.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said there would be a thorough investigation into the role of the police and intelligence agencies.
However, he said the incident underlined how “difficult it is in a free society to be able to control everyone”.
The attack was the first Islamist killing since July 2005, when four suicide bombers struck London transport. At that time, questions were also raised about the security services after it was revealed two of the bombers had been identified in a surveillance operation but were not followed up.
Richard Barrett, former head of counter-terrorism at the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, Britain’s foreign spy agency, said it would be impractical to track every person who expressed radical views. “To find the signals, the red flags as it were, I think is enormously hard,” he told the BBC.
Detectives are trying to determine whether the suspects had links to militants in Britain or overseas.
Sources familiar with the investigation have said no sign has emerged so far of direct links between the attack and an insurgency in the suspects’ ethnic homeland Nigeria. Their surnames suggest they are from the Christian south of Nigeria, not the Muslim north where insurgents are active. Police stepped up security at religious venues and transport hubs.
The murder, just a month after the Boston Marathon bombing, revived fears of “lone wolves” who may have had no direct contact with Al Qaeda but plan their own attacks. A source close to the investigation said the attackers were known to MI5 but neither was considered a serious threat.
Wife expected soldier ‘to be safe’
The family of soldier Lee Rigby praised their son as a “hero” during an emotional press conference yesterday. “What can we say about Lee, our hero? We are so so proud of Lee,” said stepfather Ian Rigby. “We would like to say goodnight Lee, rest in peace our fallen soldier, we love you loads and words cannot describe how loved and sadly missed you will be.” The soldier’s wife Rebecca, mother to their two-year-old son, said: “You don’t expect it to happen when he’s in the UK. You think they’re safe.” The last text message to his mother Lyn read: “Goodnight mum, I hope you had a fantastic day today because you are the most fantastic and one in a million mum that anyone could ever wish for. Thank you for supporting me all these years, you’re not just my mum you’re my best friend. So goodnight, love you loads.”