Woolwich: The investigation

The investigation into the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in south-east London is gathering pace. What do we know for sure?

Drummer Lee Rigby was killed in the street in Woolwich. At about 14:00 BST on Wednesday afternoon, witnesses saw a car crash on Artillery Place, off John Wilson Street in south-east London. The junction is next to one of London's military barracks.

Witnesses saw two men repeatedly stab and hack at the soldier with knives. The assailants then dragged him into the middle of the street.

At least one of the two men, named as Michael Adebolajo, then asked witnesses to film the scene and he delivered a series of Islamist messages.

He and the other attacker, now named as Michael Adebowale, then waited for the police to arrive. Witnesses said that Mr Adebowale was holding a gun that looked like a rusty old revolver.

Armed officers reached the scene 14 minutes after the first 999 call.

Footage obtained by the Daily Mirror shows the pair rushing towards armed police - before they fall to the ground as the specialist armed officers open fire. One witness said that the attackers' revolver misfired and may have injured the man who was holding it.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has a duty to investigate all incidents when the police open fire. It says that the officers also used a Taser stun gun and that it has recovered CCTV footage from the scene.

The two suspects are 28-year-old Michael Adebolajo, from Romford in east London, and 22-year-old Michael Adebowale, of Greenwich in south-east London.

They were taken to separate London hospitals, but after six days Mr Adebowale was discharged and taken into custody at a south London police station.

Mr Adebolajo, whose condition is described as stable with non-life threatening injuries, remains in hospital.

Michael Adebolajo is the man in the black hat with apparently bloodied hands who is seen making a speech in footage obtained by ITV news.

It is not clear exactly when Mr Adebolajo became involved in radical Islamist causes, but the BBC has established that as recently as a month ago he was seen handing out leaflets and preaching in one of Woolwich's main shopping streets.

He used to associate with a group called al-Muhajiroun that was later banned by the home secretary on national security grounds.

The BBC once filmed him in a crowd of men protesting outside a police station against counter-terrorism arrests.

Less is known about Michael Adebowale. At the time of the attack, he was understood to have been staying with his girlfriend in her flat on a Greenwich housing estate.

One neighbour said he had seen him and the other suspect at the address "two or three times".

According to reports, Mr Adebowale was among a group of men who preached from a stall on a shopping street in Greenwich from 2012.

In total 10 people have been arrested - the two murder suspects and eight others who were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder.

Three of them - a 29-year-old man, a 31-year-old woman, and a 29-year-old woman - were arrested on Thursday. The two women were released without charge on Friday, and the man was released on bail on Saturday pending further inquiries.

On Saturday, three men, aged 21, 24, and 28, were arrested at two locations in south-east London. They were all released on bail.

One of these men, 21-year-old Hayden Allen, has issued a statement through his lawyer denying any involvement in Mr Rigby's death.

"I had no prior knowledge of the atrocity and I played no part in the incident or the lead-up to it whatsoever," the statement said.

Mr Allen, arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, is reportedly a Muslim convert who attended the same mosque as Mr Adebolajo and Mr Adebowale.

A 22-year-old man arrested in Highbury, north London, on Sunday, was bailed on Monday.

A 50-year-old man arrested in Welling, south-east London, on Monday was "bailed to a later date pending further enquiries" on Tuesday.

Police have entered 10 homes with search warrants - seven in south London, one in east London, one in north London and one in Lincoln.

Specialist search officers and forensic experts have been working at the scene of the attack and have recovered a "number of items".

Other officers are going through CCTV footage. This is a highly complex and painstaking operation involving officers watching hour upon hour of footage in an attempt to reconstruct the movements of suspects and, secondly, to establish if there was anyone else involved in an incident that they do not know about.

On Thursday it became clear that both suspects had been known to the authorities - the police and MI5.

Sources said reports the men had featured in "several investigations" in recent years, but were not deemed to be planning an attack, "were not inaccurate".

The Foreign Office has confirmed Mr Adebolajo was arrested in Kenya in 2010 as he allegedly prepared to fight with Somali militant group al-Shabab. He was later deported.

In 2006, he was arrested outside the Old Bailey after he clashed with police officers during a protest in relation to the trial of another man.

One of Mr Adebolajo's childhood friends, Abu Nusaybah, said the suspect had told him that about six months ago MI5 approached him and "asked him if he knew certain individuals" as well as "if he would be interested in working for them". Abu Nusaybah says Mr Adebolajo refused to help.

Human rights group Cageprisoners Ltd said it had spoken to Mr Adebolajo and his relatives in April 2012 about the reported approach from MI5.

The organisation said Mr Adebolajo and his family told them they were being "harassed" and that they had received numerous phone calls, text messages and visits from British security agents pressuring them to co-operate.

The Intelligence and Security Committee in Parliament is going to investigate and report on what MI5 knew - but it remains to be seen how much of that report will be made public.

There will eventually be an inquest into the death of Drummer Lee Rigby. It is highly likely that the coroner would want to hear whether the attack could have been prevented. A senior MI5 officer gave evidence on the same basis at the inquests into the deaths of the 52 people killed by the 2005 London bombers.