So those 2 guys who beheaded the soldier in Woolwich- why didn't they just attempt to kill everyone?

[Poll_Blind]

They ran a soldier down in their car, stabbed him to death, beheaded him and then just sort of...milled around... chatting with passers-by.

WTF? This doesn't strike me as an al-Qaeda or other terror attack so much as...Jesus Christ, I dunno. More like a "political" act. More like the twisted reasoning of Timothy McVeigh than Osama bin-Laden.

I've noticed the...the video of the guy holding the great big knives, and covered in blood and all...it seems like only part of the video of that is being shown. He clearly had some kind of reasoning (at least in his mind) for what he did and tried to explain it.

Now, if you look at that video it opens with an announcer talking over the beginning of what the murder is saying and then it cuts at about 19 seconds to the murder walking away. Why edit out a murder giving a confession?

At around 33 seconds there's another cut and a woman appears to get up from from laying by the dead or wounded victim and then, dare I say "casually" walks away, speaking with her friend.

What. Is. That. About?

I'm not saying there's anything sinister going on here, beyond the heinous murder itself. It's just a very unusual bit of footage and I'm puzzled both about the footage and why it was presented that way.

-----(WARNING GRAPHIC)-----

Edit: Dr Brooke Rogers from Kings College, London was just on the BBC now talking about how apparently because the killing appeared targeted as opposed to a general attack is the reason that so many bystanders hung around even talking to the attackers. She indicated that if the bystanders had thought there was a general attack going on they would have fled. (?)

Edit: MOD has not yet confirmed that the murder victim is a soldier.

Edit: According to Twitter, the woman laying by the victim may have been attempting to determine if she could give him medical treatment or whether he was beyond help. Although I didn't see the killers in the frame, presumably they were nearby.

Edit: Terrorism analyst indicated it was apparently the killers' intent to be caught, to make a stand of some sort with responding police forces. Later witnesses on BBC explicitly stated that the killers could have easily gotten away if they'd wanted to but they seemed to be waiting to confront the police after the attack.

PB

[Arctic Dave]

1. WTF is right.

That is one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. Everyone just seem to be very poised with what is happening.

Seems more like a hit the a terror attack.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Just a minute or two ago there was a witness on BBC who indicated that the...

...men asked bystanders to call the police.

At least from what I know right now seems more like...like you said, a hit or maybe some sort of revenge killing or something. According to chatter on the internet, they were allegedly shouting "Allahu Akbar!" but I haven't seen any video of that nor have any of the people interviewed indicated that, IIRC.



This is not...uh...not the way terrorists typically act. Terrorists act to instill terror in the general public. That's why it's call terrorism.

PB

[Ian David]

3. Maybe he was tired? Beheading someone must be hard work. n/t

[superpatriotman]

4. The question is: Why did they kill anyone?!

WTF indeed, upthread

This is ghoulish.