British Prime Minister David Cameron is demanding intelligence and security heads explain how two Islamist terror suspects could massacre a soldier in the streets when the two had been surveillance targets of MI5 for the past eight years.
Mr. Cameron wants to know “what went wrong” with the surveillance of the two, The Telegraph reported. And Eric Pickles, the nation’s Communities Secretary, promised a “thorough investigation,” The Telegraph said.
Intelligence had previously halted one of the suspects — Michael Adebolajo, 28, the one videotaped with bloody hands, waving a machete and knife — en route to Somalia, where it was suspected he was heading to fight with the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, The Telegraph said.
Six years ago, he was also arrested during a violent protest in Britain that was led by an extremist group. He also held membership in a group of militants who joined with known radical clerics to preach anti-Western messages in the streets of London, The Telegraph reported.
The other suspect, Michael Adebowale, 22, was a known extremist whose apartment was recently raided by police, The Telegraph said.
“The prime minister is very clear he wants to see an investigation about what went right and what went wrong,” Mr. Pickles said, in The Telegraph. “It’s very important to stress these investigations are still going on.”
SEE ALSO: Arrests of 2 in British soldier’s slaughter signal wider Islamist terror plot
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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