Terror experts said the killing of a soldier in Woolwich was "likely to be the kind of attack we will see in the future" but the real danger lay in "stirring up anti-Muslim sentiments" in the UK.

Dr Christina Hellmich, an expert on al-Qaeda and international terrorism at the University of Reading, said: "If what we saw in Woolwich yesterday was indeed an Islamist-inspired attack, it bears much in common with the concept of the 'individualised jihad', which has been propagated by radical Islamists for many years.

"As I have said in the past, this is unfortunately likely to be the kind of attack we will see in the future.

"But while these attacks are truly awful, this does not indicate to me that we face a 'wave of terror'.

"The reality is that al-Qaeda, as an organised international movement, is a spent force.

"A seemingly random murder is truly horrific - but it is hardly the activity of an institution which wields genuine international power.

"Whether such activities become influential is largely down to the reaction of the rest of society.

"Calls for individualised jihad by individuals in their home countries is nothing new.

"Such ideas have been widely circulating since 2010 and fortunately few have taken it up.

"The odd people who do are the exception rather than the norm, and I do not see that changing in the wake of this event in London.

"The real danger lies in the emotions that this evokes in Britain, stirring up anti-Muslim sentiments, provoking fear, and adding apparent weight to the arguments of those who wish to implement ever more dramatic counter-terrorism measures."

Jeffrey DeMarco, lecturer and researcher in criminology at Kingston University, said the attack demonstrated the recent increase in "lone wolf" terrorism which could pose a risk for security services.

He said: "We have been seeing slowly but really most noticeably with Mumbai in 2008, this escalation and this frequent recurrence of the lone wolves who aren't part of the intricate terrorist cells or organisations, but who are trying to get to their own end game.

"These are individuals taking matters into their own hands.

"It's going to be quite difficult for local and national levels of security services.

"Mass casualties are not necessarily the endgame, the epidemic of fear can be just as damaging.

"Regardless of the venue, the perpetrator, or the modus operandi we reach an ultimate conclusion: Islamic jihadists.

"Full stop.

"They've killed someone, but they've also spread fear amongst the populace."

Matthew Henman, senior analyst at IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC), said: "While it remains too early to definitively attribute a motive for the attack, Prime Minister David Cameron stated several hours after the incident that there were "strong indications" that it was terrorism-related.

"The potential militant Islamist angle was underlined by several aspects of the attack, firstly in that it appeared to specifically target a UK soldier near the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, with the attackers making no attempt to attack any other person in the vicinity.

"The subsequent claim that the victim was killed specifically because he was a soldier may also indicate that the attack was pre-planned.

"The fact that the attackers made no attempt to flee the scene, combined with their interaction with bystanders, may indicate an effort to maximise publicity of the attack and to ensure that their message was recorded and publicised.

"Finally, the reported attempt to attack the police responders may well have been in the expectation that they would be shot dead, perhaps with the aim that they would thereby be considered martyrs within the wider militant Islamist community."