A British soldier is fighting for his life after being stabbed outside an army base in southeast England on Tuesday evening.
The soldier, who was in full uniform, was stabbed near Brompton Barracks in Gillingham, Kent at around 6 p.m. He was airlifted to hospital and is reportedly in a “serious” condition.
Kent Police said a 24-year-old local man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. They have also not ruled out terrorism as a motive, the Telegraph reports.
A witness told The Times that the attacker pulled up on a moped. “This was with two kitchen knives, about nine to 10 inches long, and there were about seven of us there who witnessed it,” according to the bystander.
“The soldier was in uniform. He works at the barracks, lives in Sally Port Gardens, and was walking home. His wife tried to pull the attacker off.”
The attacker then escaped on the moped.
Another witness who tried to help the soldier told The Sun: “The only person he was targeting was the soldier he attacked.”
“Blood was everywhere as I tried to apply pressure to his wounds until the police arrived,” he added. “When the guy’s wife came out and started trying to pull the guy off he didn’t even try to hurt her.”
Other witnesses said they heard a “blood-curdling scream” as the soldier was attacked. Moments later, the attacker ran his finger across the knife and licked it, one person told The Sun. To date, the known details of the attack are similar to the murder of Lee Rigby, a soldier who was stabbed to death near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London, eleven years ago.
The Gillingham attack occurred on the same day that radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary was convicted of terrorism offences at a court in London.
Choudary was accused of directing Al-Muhajiroun (ALM), a banned international terror organisation. During his trial, he admitted to officiating at the wedding of one of the killers of Lee Rigby.
“I was there when he [the killer] became Muslim. I officiated at his marriage. I believe then he stopped associating with anyone I know for years before Lee Rigby was killed,” Choudary told the court.
He was also asked why he had described the killing as “famous.” He responded that it had put Woolwich “on the map.”
Choudary was jailed for five years in 2016 for inviting support for Islamic State, but was released just two years later, subject to strict licence conditions, including a ban on using the internet. However, within three weeks of those terms lapsing in July 2021, he was already putting out messages on social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
Choudary then gave more than 40 lectures to a spin-off of ALM in New York, attracting a global audience. He was arrested again last July following a joint investigation by MI5, Scotland Yard, the NYPD, and Canadian police.
Experts are incredulous that Choudary was allowed any internet access after his release, given his long history of radicalising followers.
Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told the Mail: “He needed to have a different class of conditions and surveillance to keep him from reoffending and trying to radicalise the next generation. The reality was it was no surprise—anyone could have predicted that this is exactly what Choudary would do as soon as he had the means.”
