http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=874923M16 under pressure over soldier murder
Updated: 08:50, Saturday May 25, 2013
Britain's intelligence services are under pressure to explain how they let two Islamic extremists suspected of hacking a soldier to death in London slip through their net.
Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, who remain under armed guard in hospital after being shot by police at the scene, were known to the intelligence services but reportedly assessed as not posing a deadly threat.
The distraught wife of the murdered soldier Lee Rigby said on Friday the family found it hard to accept the 25-year-old had been killed not in a war zone but on the streets of his own country.
A huge pile of floral tributes continues to grow outside the barracks in Woolwich, south London, where Rigby was brutally attacked on Wednesday afternoon.
More details have emerged about Adebolajo, who was born to devout Nigerian Christians but converted to Islam a decade ago and attended meetings of the extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, which is now banned in Britain.
He reportedly sold inflammatory literature at a stall in Woolwich, where his increasingly extremist behaviour in recent weeks alarmed other Muslims.
Reports say Adebolajo attempted to travel to Somalia to fight alongside al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents but was turned back and had his passport confiscated by police.
He was captured on film shortly after the attack brandishing a bloodied knife and meat cleaver and claiming he had killed the soldier because British forces killed Muslims every day.
Less is known about the other suspect but he is also believed to be of Nigerian origin.
Dramatic footage of the incident on the Mirror newspaper's website also showed Adebolajo charging at a policewoman before he was shot and injured.
As detectives try to establish how Adebolajo apparently went from an outspoken convert to a killer, the government is being forced to defend the security services against criticism they missed signs which might have helped prevent the grisly murder.
A parliamentary committee will look into the role of the security services, but communities minister Eric Pickles said on Friday even if the men had been known to intelligence agencies, it was impossible to keep tabs on everyone all the time.