A picture taken from a video shows the Woolwich murder suspect, Michael Adebolajo, after the killing. (AFP)

London, May 23: The two suspected Woolwich killers were known to the security services, senior Whitehall sources have confirmed to The Times, as one of the men was identified today.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, of Nigerian descent who converted to a radical form of Islam, has been named by former schoolfriends in East London as the man with bloodied hands seen in dramatic footage describing the atrocity as revenge for the deaths of Muslims.

The second attacker has not been identified, although police sources indicated that he too was British and of Nigerian descent.

The names of both men figured in MI5 counter-terrorism operations but neither was seen as the key figure in the plots under investigation. At least one — Adebolajo — is understood to have tried to travel overseas to fight jihad in the recent past, but it is not clear where in the world he was planning to go.

One source said that the attack in Woolwich could have been planned and executed in a couple of hours and was almost impossible to intercept.

There is understood to have been nothing in the intelligence assessment of either suspect that indicated that they were about to launch an attack imminently.

The victim of yesterday’s terror attack was tonight named by the ministry of defence as 25-year-old Drummer Lee Rigby of the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

A military bandsman in the Corps of Drums, Rigby played his part in the military pageantry of his regiment.

He served tours of duty in Afghanistan, Cyprus and Germany, but since 2011 he had been attached to regimental recruiting team. Born in Crumpsall, Manchester, he was a keen supporter of Manchester United. He was described as a loving father to his two-year-old son, Jack.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said there would in time be a full investigation by the Security and Intelligence Committee. He also made a point of praising the work of the security services and the police, who had kept the public safe on a daily basis.

Neither suspect, both of whom were shot by armed police and are under guard in separate hospitals while under arrest, is thought to have links to terror groups based in Nigeria, such as the jihadist militant organisation Boko Haram.

“The people who did this were trying to divide us. They should know something like this will only bring us closer together and make us stronger,” said the Prime Minister, speaking outside No10.

“Our thoughts today are with the victim and with his family. They are grieving for their loved one and we have lost a brave soldier.”

Schoolfriends at Marshalls Park School in Romford in Essex said that Adebolajo was a “regular guy” who converted to Islam after attending Havering Sixth Form College. He is thought to have attended Greenwich University and was previously registered at student housing near the university.

One school friend told The Times: “In school he was always smiling, always happy, bit of a joker. In Sixth form I noticed he changed a little. But he was friendly, always smiling. Its such a shock.”

He has a younger brother and older sister, whose address in Romford was being searched this morning by police. A young woman carrying an overnight bag was driven away from the address at 8.10am. This morning Met police officers searched a large, detached house in Lincolnshire, believed to belong to Adebolajo’s father, Anthony, who is said to work for the NHS.

Blinds were drawn at the £365,000 property in the village of Saxilby and there was a police cordon around the house.

Anjem Choudary, former leader of the banned radical group al-Muhajiroun, claimed today that he recognised Adebolajo as someone who attended meetings of the group and its successor organisations.

“I knew him as Mujahid. He attended our meetings and my lectures. I wouldn’t describe him as a member [of al-Muhajiroun]. There were lots of people who came to our activities who weren’t necessarily members,” he said.

Choudary, who grew up in Woolwich and attended Mulgrave primary school close to the scene of the murder, said Adebolajo had converted to Islam in around 2003 and for a while been a regular attender at al-Muhajiroun events.