Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation into the murder of a man who was hacked to death on a street in south east London. The victim is believed to have been a serving British solider and we understand his family has been informed.

Two men who were shot by police at the scene. They have spent the night under arrest in hospital.

A man holding a meat cleaver and his hands covered in blood was filmed by a passer by saying he carried out the attack because British soldiers kill Muslims every day.

Tributes paid to bravery of others

However acts of bravery by ordinary people are emerging from the attack yesterday. Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, a mother-of-two and cub scout leader with training in first aid confronted the men, telling the pair to hand over their weapons and warning them: "You are going to lose."

She said she first saw the victim lying on the street. "When I saw this guy on the floor I thought it was an accident - then I saw the guy was dead and I could not feel any pulse. And then when I went up there was this black guy with a revolver and a kitchen knife, he had what looked like butcher's tools and he had a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives, and he said 'Move off the body'. So I thought 'OK, I don't know what is going on here' and he was covered with blood."

The 48-year-old told The Daily Telegraph "I thought I had better start talking to him before he starts attacking somebody else. I thought these people usually have a message so I said 'What do you want?' I asked him if he did it and he said 'Yes', and I said 'Why?' and he said because he has killed Muslim people in Muslim countries, he said he was a British solider and I said 'Really?'. I said 'Right now it is only you versus many people, you are going to lose, what would you like to do?'

"And he said 'I would like to stay and fight'."

Her confrontation emerged as other witnesses revealed details of the horrific machete attack.

Location of the barracks in south-east London

Julia Wilders, who lives near the scene, said: "We were driving back and my husband said to me 'Don't look, they're resuscitating someone'. But apparently they were stabbing him." She said she later saw one of the attackers run towards police clutching two meat cleavers.

"He ran towards police before they could even get out of the car, and it looked like the other one was going to lift the gun up," the 51-year-old said.

Others took to Twitter to describe the events, with one user, writing on the account @Boyadee, describing a female officer "taking out" one of the men "like Robocop".

Joe Tallant, 20, saw one man holding a gun and a knife, and another holding two knives. He described how he saw the victim on the floor and the men asking onlookers to call the police. He said "I looked on the floor and I saw a dead body and then I saw one of the men walking around the body."

When the officers arrived, Mr. Tallant said the attackers "walked towards the police car with their weapons and a police lady jumped out and shot them both".

Meanwhile the London Mayor Boris Johnson has this morning paid tribute to the bravery of all those involved.