Female Bystander Confronts London Attackers

One tells her, 'We want to start a war in London tonight'
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2013 7:04 PM CDT
London Attacker to Woman: 'We Want to Start a War'
Police cordon off the scene of an attack in the London neighborhood of Woolwich.   (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

The two men accused of butchering a UK soldier in broad daylight today on a London street—one talks about it in video broadcast on British TV—remain hospitalized with gunshot wounds from police, reports AP. The Telegraph, meanwhile, speaks with a woman who jumped from a bus when she saw the victim lying on the ground to see if she could help him, and then engaged one of the armed attackers in conversation after he ordered her to "move off the body." Recalls 48-year-old Ingrid Loyau-Kennett: "I thought, 'OK, I don’t know what is going on here’ and he was covered with blood. I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else."

In their exchange, the attacker told her that they had killed the man because they were "fed up with people killing Muslims in Afghanistan," adding that, "We want to start a war in London tonight.” She also spoke with the second attacker. “The other one was much shier and I went to him and I said, 'Well, what about you? Would you like to give me what you have in your hands?’" referring to his weapons. Meanwhile, other bystanders also moved in, some shielding the victim's body even as the attackers stood there. “This is courage of the highest order," says one British parliament member. "It sounds as if these members of the public are not soldiers, not policemen, not people whose duties demand this, they are extremely courageous people and that courage deserves to be recognized at the highest level.” Another says he will investigate why it took the police 20 minutes to arrive. (More London stories.)

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