London attack: British PM holds crisis meeting

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired crisis talks following a terror attack here that left a soldier dead.

London: British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday chaired crisis talks following a terror attack here that left a soldier dead. The government and security officials are racing to respond to the killing of a British soldier, an act that shocked the country. Cameron held a meeting of the emergency response committee Cobra on Thursday morning after coming back to London from France, reported Sky News. Home Secretary Theresa May, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Metropolitan Police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe were among those present at the crisis meet. Two men carrying weapons brutally assaulted and killed the soldier in Woolwich in southeast London on Wednesday afternoon. The two attackers were later shot and injured by police. Prime Minister David Cameron said there were strong indications that it was a "terrorist incident". Security has been heightened at the Royal Artillery Barracks which is close to the scene of the murder, and at other barracks across London. "It is completely wrong to blame this killing on the religion of Islam but it is also equally wrong to try to draw any link between this murder and British foreign policy or the actions of British forces who are risking their lives abroad for the sake of freedom," the Mayor was quoted as saying. "The fault lies wholly and exclusively in the warped and deluded mindset of the people who did it. What we need now, for the sake of the victim and his family, is for those killers to be brought to justice." IANS (With agency inputs)