This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/world/europe/london-attack.html
The article has changed 13 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 11 | Version 12 |
|---|---|
| After Grisly Death, Scrutiny on British Security Agency | |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| LONDON — Pressure mounted on Friday for MI5, Britain’s domestic security agency, to explain how two men with years of involvement with extremist Islamic groups were left free to kill an off-duty soldier this week, striking him with their car in a London suburb and then hacking him repeatedly with butchers’ cleavers. | LONDON — Pressure mounted on Friday for MI5, Britain’s domestic security agency, to explain how two men with years of involvement with extremist Islamic groups were left free to kill an off-duty soldier this week, striking him with their car in a London suburb and then hacking him repeatedly with butchers’ cleavers. |
| For its sheer brutality, and the fact that the episode was recorded in detail by witnesses with cellphone cameras, the attack outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich on Wednesday came as a shock to many in Britain after years of success by MI5 and other security agencies in tracking militant cells and pre-empting terrorist plots. | For its sheer brutality, and the fact that the episode was recorded in detail by witnesses with cellphone cameras, the attack outside the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich on Wednesday came as a shock to many in Britain after years of success by MI5 and other security agencies in tracking militant cells and pre-empting terrorist plots. |
| On Friday, officials confirmed the identity of the second of the two suspects, naming him as Michael Adebowale, 22, who was born in Nigeria and immigrated to Britain as a child. The other man had previously been identified as Michael Adebolajo, 28, who was born in Britain to a Christian family that moved here from Nigeria, and converted to Islam after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. | On Friday, officials confirmed the identity of the second of the two suspects, naming him as Michael Adebowale, 22, who was born in Nigeria and immigrated to Britain as a child. The other man had previously been identified as Michael Adebolajo, 28, who was born in Britain to a Christian family that moved here from Nigeria, and converted to Islam after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. |
| Both men were wounded by police gunfire after the death of Lee Rigby, 25, a bandsman and machine-gunner in the Royal Fusiliers, when, witnesses said, they charged at officers with cleavers and a handgun. The suspects remain under armed police guard in London hospitals and have not yet been charged with any offense. | Both men were wounded by police gunfire after the death of Lee Rigby, 25, a bandsman and machine-gunner in the Royal Fusiliers, when, witnesses said, they charged at officers with cleavers and a handgun. The suspects remain under armed police guard in London hospitals and have not yet been charged with any offense. |
| The possibility of wider involvement in the attack was suggested by the arrests of two women and a man believed to have family links to Mr. Adebolajo, though the women were released without being charged on Friday and only the man, said by the police to be 29 years old, remained in custody. | The possibility of wider involvement in the attack was suggested by the arrests of two women and a man believed to have family links to Mr. Adebolajo, though the women were released without being charged on Friday and only the man, said by the police to be 29 years old, remained in custody. |
| Officials confirmed Friday that the two suspects in the killing had been known to MI5 for years and, in the case of Mr. Adebolajo, since at least 2005. While there were few details about the militant activities of Mr. Adebowale, Mr. Adebolajo has a long record of involvement with extremist groups, according to security officials. Those activities, they said, included involvement in violent protests and an arrest at a London airport last year when he was preparing to fly to Somalia to join the Shabaab, a group linked to Al Qaeda that has been listed as a terrorist group by Britain and the United States. | Officials confirmed Friday that the two suspects in the killing had been known to MI5 for years and, in the case of Mr. Adebolajo, since at least 2005. While there were few details about the militant activities of Mr. Adebowale, Mr. Adebolajo has a long record of involvement with extremist groups, according to security officials. Those activities, they said, included involvement in violent protests and an arrest at a London airport last year when he was preparing to fly to Somalia to join the Shabaab, a group linked to Al Qaeda that has been listed as a terrorist group by Britain and the United States. |
| On Friday, British newspapers published photographs of Mr. Adebolajo at several protests organized by extremist Islamic groups in recent years, including an image showing him at a London protest in 2007 standing behind Anjem Choudary, leader of Al Muhajiroun, a group that was banned in 2010. The ban came after relentless support by the group’s leaders for jihadist activities, including attempts to disrupt parades and ceremonies honoring soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. | On Friday, British newspapers published photographs of Mr. Adebolajo at several protests organized by extremist Islamic groups in recent years, including an image showing him at a London protest in 2007 standing behind Anjem Choudary, leader of Al Muhajiroun, a group that was banned in 2010. The ban came after relentless support by the group’s leaders for jihadist activities, including attempts to disrupt parades and ceremonies honoring soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| Amid widespread calls for an official accounting from MI5 and other security agencies, Mr. Rigby’s family held an emotional news conference in Manchester, his hometown. There, his stepfather, Ian Rigby, flanked by the soldier’s sobbing mother and sister, broke down as he read a eulogy to the serviceman, who had been in a combat unit in Helmand Province in Afghanistan, where much of the bloodiest fighting of the war by British and American troops has occurred. “We would like to say, ‘Good night, Lee, rest in peace, our fallen soldier,’ ” Mr. Rigby said. | Amid widespread calls for an official accounting from MI5 and other security agencies, Mr. Rigby’s family held an emotional news conference in Manchester, his hometown. There, his stepfather, Ian Rigby, flanked by the soldier’s sobbing mother and sister, broke down as he read a eulogy to the serviceman, who had been in a combat unit in Helmand Province in Afghanistan, where much of the bloodiest fighting of the war by British and American troops has occurred. “We would like to say, ‘Good night, Lee, rest in peace, our fallen soldier,’ ” Mr. Rigby said. |
| Senior political figures hastened to offer assurances that what MI5 knew about Mr. Adebolajo and Mr. Adebowale before Wednesday’s attack would be thoroughly investigated by MI5 itself, and by a parliamentary committee that has powers of scrutiny over it. That suggested that MI5 faces weeks, and perhaps months, of questioning over the affair. | Senior political figures hastened to offer assurances that what MI5 knew about Mr. Adebolajo and Mr. Adebowale before Wednesday’s attack would be thoroughly investigated by MI5 itself, and by a parliamentary committee that has powers of scrutiny over it. That suggested that MI5 faces weeks, and perhaps months, of questioning over the affair. |
| The chairman of the parliamentary committee, Malcolm Rifkind, a former British foreign minister, said Friday that he had already been briefed on the killing by Andrew Parker, MI5’s chief, who assumed the post last month in succession to Jonathan Evans, the agency’s chief since 2007. Mr. Rifkind told the British newspaper The Guardian that he expected a fuller report next week, and that hearings, in private session, would be given “a high priority” in coming weeks. | The chairman of the parliamentary committee, Malcolm Rifkind, a former British foreign minister, said Friday that he had already been briefed on the killing by Andrew Parker, MI5’s chief, who assumed the post last month in succession to Jonathan Evans, the agency’s chief since 2007. Mr. Rifkind told the British newspaper The Guardian that he expected a fuller report next week, and that hearings, in private session, would be given “a high priority” in coming weeks. |
| For MI5, which had a reputation for major successes in counterterrorism under Mr. Evans, the inquiry could be testing. Officials from MI5 and Scotland Yard’s specialist counterterrorism unit, known as SO-15, have been careful not to claim that they have been winning the war against groups inspired by the Sept. 11 attacks, and by the July 7, 2005, bombings on the London transit system that killed 52 bus and subway passengers. The official line under Mr. Evans was that combating terrorism prompted by Islamic extremism would be the work of a generation, and that further attacks, including some that might rival the horrors of 2001 and 2005, were likely, if not probable. | For MI5, which had a reputation for major successes in counterterrorism under Mr. Evans, the inquiry could be testing. Officials from MI5 and Scotland Yard’s specialist counterterrorism unit, known as SO-15, have been careful not to claim that they have been winning the war against groups inspired by the Sept. 11 attacks, and by the July 7, 2005, bombings on the London transit system that killed 52 bus and subway passengers. The official line under Mr. Evans was that combating terrorism prompted by Islamic extremism would be the work of a generation, and that further attacks, including some that might rival the horrors of 2001 and 2005, were likely, if not probable. |
| A steady succession of arrests of people suspected of being terrorist plotters, and the ensuing trials, had buttressed public confidence, but Wednesday’s killing threatened to undermine that feeling, if not shatter it. | A steady succession of arrests of people suspected of being terrorist plotters, and the ensuing trials, had buttressed public confidence, but Wednesday’s killing threatened to undermine that feeling, if not shatter it. |