'Convert' beheads colleague

A woman has been beheaded in an Oklahoma, US, food processing plant by a sacked employee who had apparently tried to convert his colleagues to Islam.

Alton Nolen, 30, walked into the Vaughan Foods plant and decapitated Colleen Hufford, 54, with a knife and then attacked a second woman, Traci Johnson, 43.

He was shot and injured by Mark Vaughan, chief operating officer at the company and an Oklahoma County reserve deputy.

Johnson and Nolen are reported to be recovering from their wounds in hospital.

Initially it was thought the attacks were a purely personal grievance triggered by Nolen's dismissal.

But the FBI were called in because of the nature of the crime and following reports that Nolen was a convert to Islam and had sought to persuade other workers to follow his lead.

Police records showed that Nolen had more than 20 convictions dating back to December 2009.