http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/world/europe/uk-woolwich-michael-adebolajo/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Two men ran down a serving UK soldier before hacking him to death in
London on May 22
* One of the suspects addressed a camera after the incident,
brandishing a cleaver
* Friends, acquaintances and UK media identified him as Michael
Adebolajo, 28
* One friend told CNN Adebolajo was a Muslim convert with an extremist
philosophy
(CNN) -- British police have arrested four people in relation to the brutal
killing of British soldier Lee Rigby in
southeast London on Wednesday.
The two men suspected of
hitting the 25-year-old machine gunner with a car and then hacking him
to death in broad daylight were later shot by police and are being
treated for gunshot wounds at separate hospitals.
Another man is being held on "suspicion of conspiracy to murder."
But much of the world's
attention has been focused on the suspect who approached a camera
brandishing a bloody meat cleaver after the attack and declared: "This
British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Friends, acquaintances
and British media identified him as 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo, a
British national of Nigerian descent.
According to British
media reports, Adebolajo was born in Lambeth, London, and grew up in
Romford, in the nearby county of Essex.
Capture of London terror suspects
UK PM seeks answers on London attack
London hacking victim named
Family of Woolwich victim speaks
The Guardian newspaper reported that he had attended Marshalls Park School,
Havering Sixth Form College and then Greenwich University.
Adebolajo is understood to have converted to Islam in about 2003.
His friend of some seven years, Abu Barra said Adebolajo became passionate
about his new faith.
The friends shared an extremist philosophy fueled by perceived injustice in
Iraq and Afghanistan, Barra told CNN's Dan Rivers.
Barra described his
friend as a "very caring" man who "just wanted to help everybody." He
was also "very vocal" about his feelings that Muslims were being
oppressed -- injustices he pinned, in part, on the British government.
"I wasn't surprised that it happened," Barra said of Wednesday's attack. "...
Britain is only
responsible, the government. And I believe all of us, as a public, we
are responsible. We should condemn ourselves, why we did not do enough
to stop these wars going on in Iraq and Afghanistan."
British Muslim radical
leader Anjem Choudary told CNN that he also knew Adebolajo, who he said
had attended demonstrations and a few lectures organized by his group
Al-Muhajiroun.
An ITN video from April
2007 shows Adebolajo standing behind Choudary at a rally protesting the
arrest of men who allegedly made inflammatory speeches inside a mosque.
Al-Muhajiroun's founder
Omar Bakri Mohammed told CNN in an interview from Lebanon that he had
also been acquainted with Adebolajo, knowing him by his Muslim name
"Muhahid." Bakri said that although they did not have many interactions,
Adebolajo stood out because he was a new convert to the religion.
Adebolajo had attended
several talks and rallies in London between 2003 and 2004, Bakri said,
and had asked several questions about Islam.
"It was on why we don't
sit with non-Muslims and how to perform prayer and so on," Bakri told
CNN. He said Adebolajo had also raised questions relating to the purpose of
life and appeared to feel Islam provided "fundamental answers."
As a Nigerian convert,
Adebolajo had been particularly impressed that Islam was a brotherhood
between all races "whites, black and Arabs," Bakri said.
He described Adebolajo as "quiet and shy" and highly respectful of him.
All young men in the
meetings were angered by the Iraq war and that would have included
Adebolajo, Bakri said. He said his view was that Adebolajo's method of
attack showed "he really believed he was attacking a military target."
However, a former girlfriend told the Independent Adebolajo had been "really
friendly and really polite and there was
never anything to suggest he would be caught up with anything like
this."
CNN understands spies at the British security service MI5 were aware of
Adebolajo and his
alleged accomplice while investigating other terrorist plots, but that
there was nothing to indicate either men were about to strike.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe : [email protected]
Unsubscribe : [email protected]
List owner : [email protected]
Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
