Woolwich attack: aftermath and reaction to killing on London street – as it happened

The liveblog is closing for the night. In summary

• Two men were being treated in hospital after being shot by police
• Both were arrested on suspicion of murdering a man they believed to be soldier
• There were disturbances and arrests in a few areas of the south-east of England

Good night.

Police arrested two men trying to vandalise mosques, and the English Defence League threw bottles at the police. PA have this report:

Two men were arrested tonight after separate attacks on mosques following the terrorist incident in Woolwich.
A 43-year-old man is in custody on suspicion of attempted arson after reportedly walking into a mosque with a knife in Braintree, Essex.
Meanwhile, police in Kent were called to reports of criminal damage at a mosque in Canterbury Street, Gillingham, at 8.40pm. A spokesman said a man was in custody on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage.
Supporters of the English Defence League gathered at Woolwich Arsenal train station near the scene and threw bottles at police.
EDL leader Tommy Robinson, who was among a group of around 250 men present, said: "They're chopping our soldiers' heads off. This is Islam. That's what we've seen today.
"They've cut off one of our army's heads off on the streets of London. Our next generation are being taught through schools that Islam is a religion of peace. It's not. It never has been. What you saw today is Islam.
"Everyone's had enough. There has to be a reaction, for the government to listen, for the police to listen, to understand how angry this British public are."
The men then engaged in brief skirmishes with police across the large public square opposite the station.

Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, the Brownie leader who was unperturbed by the bloody weapons held by the suspects in Woolwich, kept talking to them to keep them calm. Read more here.

Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said:

"It is hard to comprehend the shocking and horrific scenes we have seen this afternoon on a busy street as Londoners went about their day as normal. We have launched a murder investigation, being led by Counter Terrorism Command. Two men have been arrested in connection with that murder.

"We understand concern about the motivation and we will work tirelessly to uncover why this occurred and who was responsible. I understand people want answers, but I must stress we are in the early stages of investigations.

"I would urge everyone to remain calm and have a measured response to today's tragic events. In Greenwich we have met with community representatives, and extra officers remain on duty there tonight. Across London our officers are in contact with their communities too. The shock that we all feel at what has happened must bind us together."

Police have asked anyone who has any information or who may have witnessed what took place in Woolwich earlier today to contact the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, who cut short a visit to Germany to return to the UK, said:

"This is a truly appalling murder which will shock the entire country. All of my thoughts are with the family and friends of the victim. The British people will be horrified by what has happened in Woolwich. They will be united in believing that this terror on our streets cannot be allowed to stand. The Labour party will offer the government our complete support in establishing the facts of what happened and ensuring that those responsible face the full force of British justice."

Commenting on the murder in Woolwich this afternoon, the Rt Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Woolwich, said:

"I am deeply saddened and distressed to hear of the incident in John Wilson Street this afternoon. My thoughts and prayers are with the victim, his family and the local community. St Mary Magdalene Church, Greenlaw Street will be open from 7.30pm this evening for those who want to pray and reflect on this tragic incident."

The Muslim Council of Britain also issued statement.

"This is a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly. Our thoughts are with the victim and his family. We understand the victim is a serving member of the armed forces. Muslims have long served in this country’s armed forces, proudly and with honour. This attack on a member of the armed forces is dishonourable, and no cause justifies this murder.

This action will no doubt heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom. We call on all our communities, Muslim and non-Muslim, to come together in solidarity to ensure the forces of hatred do not prevail. It is important we allow our police authorities to do their job without speculation. We also urge the utmost vigilance and ask the police authorities to calm tensions."

PA have reported that the Cobra meeting, which lasted around an hour, heard that security has been tightened at Woolwich barracks and increased at all London barracks.
The meeting lasted just under an hour and was attended by the Home Secretary, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, Mayor of London Boris Johnson, Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Met Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick and intelligence agencies.
The meeting was told there are strong indications that it was a terrorist incident.

George Galloway has linked the attack in Woolwich to the violence in Syria.

Mohammed Shafiq, the head of the Ramadhan Foundation has also criticised the murder of a man in Woolwich by men invoking the name of Allah.

I wish to condemn the evil and barbaric crime carried out today in Woolwich. Our immediate thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims. From whatever angle you see today's attack it was at every level evil. 
We must allow the police to gather all the facts before unnecessary speculation and wait for the facts before determining its impact on our country. 
But what happens in the days to come, London and our nation will come together and will not be divided. The terrorists will never win and succeed in their evil plans. 
But tonight we think of the family of that soldier killed.

Were you a witness on the crime scene or a resident of Woolwich? Do you have video footage or pictures from today's incident? You can share your eyewitness accounts with the Guardian's reporting team via GuardianWitness, a new digital platform allowing readers to contribute to live news (read more about it here).To do this, click the “contribute to this article” link above or clicking here.

Ben Quinn has been speaking to people in Woolwich.

Joe Tallant, 20, a local resident who witnessed the attack described how a friend's mother comforted the dying victim. He claimed that the attackers told her 'no man is coming near this body' as they asked onlookers to take photographs of them.

"It was like they wanted to be famous or something but in a stupid way," he said.

He added when the police came, the two men walked towards the officers and a female officer shot them.

Ben also reports that there was no clear sign of additional security at the Woolwich barracks adjacent to the crime scene. The base is home to the 2nd Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.

Two soldiers in desert fatigues stood by the entrance along with three private security guards. One of the soldiers was armed.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said that they did not normally comment on security arrangements but it was not unusual to see armed soldiers at the entrances of bases.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said that the Queen will visit the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery at Woolwich barracks on 31 May, which was planned before today's attack. The spokesman said: "The Queen is of course concerned by the report of an attack in Woolwich earlier today. Her Majesty is being kept informed."

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In Paris, David Cameron told reporters that Britain "will always win" against the terrorists. "We have suffered these attacks before. We have always beaten them back by showing an indomitable British spirit."

We have received some more witness accounts. Julia Wilders, 51, a local resident, said that she saw a car had crashed into a lamp-post when she went to investigate.

My husband said there's two people trying to resuscitate someone. We parked and walked back to have a look and all of a sudden a tall black bloke come up with a gun. My husband said, 'Get back, get back' and we called the police.

She said that one man was dressed all in black with a black cap while the other was dressed in a green jumper. "They looked like they were on drugs," she said.

She said the black hand gun was pointed down and a crowd soon gathered.

Her husband Graham, 50, called the police to alert them to what they believed was an accident.

After we called the police I went over to the school to let the school know so the kids wouldn't come out.

I walked back up there and the tall black bloke had changed the gun to the other guy and he had two meat cleavers in his hand. And the response police turned up and he's ran towards them with meat cleavers before I could even get out of the car so they shot him. And then the other one lifts the gun up and they shot him as well.

She did not know how many shots the police fired but said both assailants fell to the ground after being hit. 

She didn't believe the assailants weapons were fired. "He looked like he was going to, sort of like he was going to lift it up towards the police."

Her husband said that it looked like the two men were trying to revive the man they'd run over.

They looked like they were pumping his chest but they said that they were trying to cut his head off.

A guy in a car told people to ring 999 and then taller guy started waving the gun at him.

David Cameron has just addressed reporters at the Elysée Palace in Paris, standing next to French president François Hollande. He says he will travel to London later tonight and attend a COBRA meeting tomorrow morning.

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Fiyaz Mughal, the director of Faith Matters and co-ordinator of the UK Government-backed anti-Muslim hatred ‘Tell MAMA’ project said of today’s Woolwich killing:

The cold blooded killing of a serving British soldier is a crime that sickens every member of every community in the UK. For the peace of our communities to be shattered like this is almost unthinkable. We must come together, isolate those who believe that extremism and violence are acceptable, and work to ensure that they meet the full force of the law.

We as the Muslim community will work against anyone who promotes such hatred. Our armed forces deserve respect for putting their lives on the line, irrespective of what we think about the political decisions that put their lives in harm’s way. Their blood is indeed our treasure which we must always protect, just as they protect us.

The man with the machete's full statement to the camera was:

"We swear by the Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. The only reason we have killed this man this is because Muslims are dying daily. This British soldier is an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth ... We must fight them as they fight us. An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. I apologise that women had to witness this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don't care about you."

The full video can be seen here.

The man with the machete tells passersby in a broad London accent: "We apologise that women had to see this today but in our lands our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don't care about you."

This is an image from the film broadcast by ITV of the suspect.

ITV have just broadcast shocking footage of a man addressing a camera with bloody hands and a machete with the victim behind him.

COBRA stands for Cabinet Office Briefing Room A but it refers to a meeting of the heads of security services which is usually chaired by the prime minister or a senior minister. COBRA meetings are called in response to regional or national crises.

David Cameron was traveling from Brussels to Paris to meet French president François Hollande but has now diverted to Westminster, Sky News are reporting. The prime minister hopes to arrive in time for part of the COBRA meeting which will also be attended by Boris Johnson, the mayor of London.

The Press Association has reported that the home secretary, Theresa May, confirmed she has been briefed by the director general of the security service MI5 on the "sickening and barbaric" incident in Woolwich.

Eyewitness Graham Wilder gave the BBC a similar account:

I saw two people lying over him and I thought they were trying to resuscitate him. I went down to the garage and another bloke come along and told me they were actually stabbing him.

Apparently they actually ran the car into him and knocked him down before they did anything. And the next minute a silver car came along and a man got out and shouted he was going to phone the police.

The next thing that happened was he actually pulled a handgun out. It was a gun that looked as if it could take about 12, 15 rounds so I definitely know it was handgun because I actually seen it in his hand.

He added the silver car then "shot off" and he shouted to warn children coming out of school with their teachers to get back inside the building:

I was more concerned about the kids because he had a handgun and he'd pull it out. As soon as he pulled that out I panicked, you know what I mean.

The police were down at the bottom of the road where I live. They were round the corner and they said they actually couldn't do anything until Trojan [a reference to the armed police] turned up.

I would have waited for someone with a gun because this man had a handgun. He didn't fire the gun. All I heard was four shots when the Trojan people turned up. These men actually went for the police with the machetes, knife and handgun.

I don't think they cared. I don't think they really cared because they went for the police with a handgun. The police were the only ones who did any shooting.

Julia Wilders, 51, who lives near the scene, has told the Press Association she saw one of the attackers run towards police clutching two meat cleavers. She said:

He ran towards police before they could even get out of the car, and it looked like the other one was going to lift the gun up.

She had been driving home with her husband and they saw the man who was attacked lying on the ground. "We were driving back and my husband said to me 'don't look, they're resuscitating someone'. But apparently they were stabbing him."

We went back down there and saw a black man with a gun. My husband phoned the police and I went to the school to tell them. About 20 minutes later I went back there and another man had the gun and the taller man had two meat cleavers.

The taller man was wearing a black woolly hat and the shorter one a green top, she said.

For now the terrorism threat level remains at substantial, meaning an attack is a strong possibility, Vikram Dodd reports. The threat level is determined by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, JTAC. "Substantial" is the third of five terrorism threat levels.

If the attack is determined to be terrorist, Vikram writes, then it exposes a gap in efforts by police and the domestic security service MI5 to keep track of potential violent extremists.

This is what the police have confirmed:

Police were called to John Wilson Street, Woolwich, after a man was assaulted by two others. A number of weapons were used in the attack.

Officers arrived, followed by firearms officers. By this time the man was dead.

Police would give no further information about the dead man.

The Metropolitan police have just put out this statement from Commander Simon Letchford:

I am here to give you an update about the incident that has unfolded here in Woolwich this afternoon and to give you further details of the situation and an outline of the facts as we understand them at this time. This is at a very early stage and as such I will provide you with what information I am able to.

At approx 1420 we were called to reports of an assault in John Wilson Street, Woolwich where one man was being assaulted by two other men. A number of weapons were reportedly being used in the attack, and this included reports of a firearm.

Officers including local Greenwich officers arrived at the scene and shortly after firearms officers arrived on the scene. On their arrival at the scene they found a man, who was later pronounced dead. At this early stage I am unable to provide any further information about the man who has died.

Two men, who we believe from early reports to have been carrying weapons, were shot by police. They were taken to separate London hospitals, they are receiving treatment for their injuries.

I can understand that this incident will cause community concerns, and I would like to reiterate that we are investigating what has taken place today. The MPS will investigate the circumstances that led to a man to lose his life and the IPCC, as is routine, will investigate the circumstances in which police discharged their weapons.

There will continue to be an increased police presence in this area, and the surrounding areas this evening. That presence will continue as long as is needed.

I am asking people to remain calm, and avoid unnecessary speculation. I will update you again as soon as I am in a position to do so.

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has tweeted that this was a "sickening, deluded and unforgiveable act of vioelnce".

That video comes via the News Shopper live blog on the incident.

The video begins with people milling around as a small number of people surround what looks like a body on the street in front of a lorry.

It then shows armed police pointing their weapons at two black-clad suspects lying on the ground, one in the road, one on a nearby patch of grass. "Stay back!" a police officer tells the crowd at one point.

This video seems to show the immediate aftermath of the killing and the police aiming their guns at two suspects on the ground.

Cameron has described the Woolwich killing as "truly shocking" and said he had asked the home secretary to chair a meeting of Cobra, the government's emergency committee.

David Cameron has described the incident as "truly shocking", the BBC reports.

And this BBC picture shows the air ambulance.

The BBC has also tweeted a map of the scene.

Counter-terrorism officials are keeping an "open mind" as to what lay behind the incident, we understand.

The Guardian understands that Theresa May has summoned Cobra, the government's emergency committee, to meet to discuss the incident this evening at 6.30pm. This is the strongest indication so far that the incident may be linked to terrorism.

The Ministry of Defence is pretty livid with MP Nick Raynsford, who has been quoted in reports saying that a soldier from the barracks at Woolwich is the victim of this attack, reports my colleague Nick Hopkins:

If it is a soldier, the MoD would always want to tell the relatives of a victim before it is confirmed by the media. Now thousands of families will be wondering if their son/brother/husband has been killed.

And as of now, the MoD doesn't know whether it is one of theirs or not.

Counter terrorist sources are saying it is unclear at this stage whether this was a terrorist attack or criminality.

I've just been speaking to my colleague Shiv Malik at the scene. He said the police have locked down the area. The main thoroughfare, John Wilson Street, is totally shut down. The police are moving people back to create a larger sterile area, he said. There was "shock and disbelief" among local people, Shiv said.

The police are holding a press conference shortly.

The Ministry of Defence has said it is urgently looking into the reports that the incident involved a soldier, but had no further comment.

The incident occurred some 200 yards from the Royal Artillery Barracks, adjacent to Woolwich Common, the historical home of the Royal Artillery, the Press Association reports. The barracks, also known as the Woolwich station, now houses a number of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and independent companies of the Grenadier and Coldstream Guards. Woolwich Common remains a designated military training area.

Earlier, Twitter user Boya Dee posted a series of tweets purporting to make up an eyewitness account of the incident. We have contacted him for comment but cannot verify the tweets at present. Nevertheless they seem to be backed up by other accounts:

Sky News is showing a number of weapons on the street in Woolwich, covered in plastic and taped down to the road and pavement with white tape.

Here is a Google map showing the location of the incident, John Wilson Street in Woolwich:

A photograph posted on Twitter purporting to show the scene in Woolwich this afternoon:

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is called in whenever police shoot someone, has said it is investigating the incident.

David Dixon is headteacher of the nearby Mulgrave Primary School and Early Years Centre; the air ambulance landed in his playground. Dixon said he had seen a body lying in the road:

All the traffic had stopped. There were gunshots after that so I am not sure about the situation after. But all I needed to know was that there was an emergency and we needed to go into our emergency procedures to make sure that the children were as safe as possible. That was my main priority.

The Press Association has further quotes from James. He said that after the "horrendous" attack, the two men, in their 20s, just stood around, waving knives and a gun, even asking people nearby to take pictures of them "as if they wanted to be on TV or something".

They were oblivious to anything; they were more worried about having their photo taken, running up and down the road. They had no intention of running off or leaving or anything. In my opinion, they were waiting for the police to arrive to be shot by the police. That's the only thing I can think. It's horrendous what they were doing to that guy.

Some "brave" women tried to shield the man on the ground from them, he added. He said that it was 20 minutes before armed police arrived at the scene.

When the armed police came flying around the corner, the man with the beanie hat, the tall guy, he charged at the police vehicle. A shot was fired by the other guy with the gun. Six shots were fired, both men went down ...

One witness, identified as James, told LBC radio that he and his partner had seen two black men attack the young victim with knives, including a meat cleaver:

They were hacking at this poor guy, literally. They were hacking at him, chopping him, cutting him.

James said the men treated their victim as a "piece of meat" after he was dead:

These two guys were crazed. They were just animals. They dragged him from the pavement and dumped his body in the middle of the road and left his body there.

The Guardian cannot confirm this account.

Several witnesses have described seeing a "beheading", while one described seeing a man wearing a Help for Heroes T-shirt being attacked with a machete-style knife and dumped in a south east London street.

A Twitter user giving his name as Boya Dee gave this very graphic and vivid account of the incident – although the Guardian cannot confirm his account.

Woolwich and Greenwich MP Nick Raynsford said it was his understanding that a serving soldier had been killed and that the two alleged suspects were in a serious condition in hospital.

He said he had spoken to both borough commander Richard Wood and Lieutenant Colonel Bob Christopher at Woolwich Barracks. Raynsford said:

The incident occurred early afternoon. One individual is dead, two others are seriously injured and in hospital.

The circumstances causing the incident are not yet clear. It's been suggested it was the product of a road traffic accident, but that's pure speculation.

I'll be talking to everyone who is involved; we will be trying to do everything possible to try and ensure calm in the area. People will be very, very shocked.

We think a serving soldier was the victim. We don't know the circumstances surrounding the incident.

We do know a number of weapons have been seized. They include a gun, various knives, and a machete, apparently.

The police clearly had to take action in order to try and arrest these individuals.

One man has been confirmed dead at the scene; two other men were taken to hospital, one of them in a serious condition, according to the London ambulance service.

Two people have been shot in Woolwich, south-east London, after armed police were called to an incident in which eyewitnesses said a man was attacked with a machete-style knife and his body was dumped in the street.

Nick Raynsford MP for Greenwich and Woolwich, said:

The situation is clearly a very very serious one indeed. One individual is dead and two others are seriously injured and apparently in hospital.

Raynsford said that the man killed was "a soldier serving in the army in the barracks".

More details soon …