Soldier hacked to death in London

"LONE WOLVES"

London was last hit by a serious militant attack in July 2005, when four young Islamists set off suicide bombs on the public transport network, killing 52 people and wounding hundreds. A similar attempted attack two weeks later was thwarted.

British counter-terrorism chiefs have recently warned that radicalised individuals, so-called "lone wolves" who might have had no direct contact with al Qaida, posed as great a risk as those who plotted attacks on the lines of the 2005 bombings.

A police forensics officer investigates a crime scene where one man was killed in Woolwich, southeast London May 22, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

The bombing attacks on the Boston Marathon last month, which US authorities blame on two brothers, have raised the profile of the "lone wolf" threat in the West. A French-Algerian gunman killed three off-duty French soldiers and four Jewish civilians on a rampage in southern France last year.

Britain's involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the past decade has often stirred anger among British Muslims and occasionally made soldiers a target at home. British police have foiled at least two major plots in which Islamist suspects were accused of planning to kill off-duty troops.

Local residents expressed shock at Wednesday's killing.

Fred Oyat, a 44-year-old local resident, said he witnessed the attack from the window of his high-rise apartment overlooking the scene.

"The victim was white," he said. "I was in my house when four shots rung out. I went to the window I saw a man lying on the ground with a lot of blood."

Ahmed Jama, a 26-year-old resident, laid flowers down at the scene as a sign of respect to the families involved.

"This has nothing to do with Islam, this has nothing to do with our religion. This has nothing to do with Allah," he said "It has nothing to do with Islam. It's heartbreaking, it's heartbreaking."

A number of weapons were reportedly used in the attack, including a firearm, police said. Security has been tightened at all London barracks.

Home Secretary Theresa May said in a statement: "This is a sickening and barbaric attack."