* EDITION: INTERNATIONAL
London attack mirrors plot to behead Muslim soldier
By Peter Wilkinson, CNN
May 23, 2013 -- Updated 1041 GMT (1841 HKT)
Three men jailed in April had discussed targeting Royal Wootton Bassett, the
town where UK troops -- both living and those killed in action -- are
repatriated.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* A man thought to be a serving British soldier killed in London by two
armed men
* In recent years previous Islamist plots have targeted British
soldiers on home soil
* In separate case three men jailed in April had discussed targeting
Wootton Bassett
* Western town is where soldiers are repatriated after returning from
Afghanistan
London (CNN) -- If a man hacked to death on a London street does turn out to be
a British solider it will have echoes of
other plots on British soil in recent years.
Lawmaker Nick Raynsford told CNN the victim of Wednesday's attack in Woolwich
was a serving soldier based at a nearby barracks, and the UK government is
treating it as a suspected terrorist attack.
In 2007 four men were imprisoned over a plot to kidnap and kill a British
Muslim soldier on leave and behead him in a Birmingham garage.
The group's ringleader Parviz Khan intended to behead the soldier "like a pig"
and release footage of the killing on the internet.
Khan was later imprisoned for life and must serve a minimum of 14 years before
he will be
considered for release. Three other men, Basiru Gassama, Mohammed Irfan, and
Hamid Elasmar, were handed down sentences of between two and seven
years for their roles in the plot.
Photos: Attack in Southeast London
London suspects shot, taken to hospital
Man who taped London suspect speaks out
High Court judge Mr Justice Henriques said Khan's aim was to deter any Muslim
from joining the British army.
"So rampant are your
views, so excitable your temperament, so persuasive your tongue and so
imbued with energy are you, it's quite impossible to predict when, if
ever, it will be safe for you to be released into the public," the Guardian
quoted the judge as saying.
"It was a plot whose
purpose was to undermine democratic government, to demoralize the
British army and to destabilize recruitment, and to cause anguish to the then
prime minister of the day and the loyal citizens of the country,"
the judge said.
Prosecutors said Khan
hoped to kidnap the Muslim soldier in Birmingham's Broad Street
entertainment quarter with the help of drug dealers.
This is not the only
recent example of serving soldiers being the targets of terrorist
attacks. Last month three British-born men were imprisoned for between four and
nine years for preparing acts of terrorism. The men, who pleaded guilty had
discussed targeting Royal Wootton Bassett, a town that became a focal
point for parades by UK troops returning from service in Afghanistan.
The judge, Mr. Justice
Simon, said they had shown themselves to be "committed fundamentalists"
ready to kill. Muslim convert Richard Dart, a former BBC security guard, and
co-defandant Imran Mahmood had discussed how to make explosives,
with the western English town as a potential bombing target.
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