|
High terror threat in UK
25/02/2007 22:00 - (SA)
London - The threat of a terrorist attack in Britain by home-grown Islamists is at its highest since the September 9/11 attacks, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said, citing a secret government report.
British-based operatives loyal to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network numbering potentially more than 2 000 are planning suicide attacks against "soft" targets, the document said, according to the weekly broadsheet.
The number is far greater than was previously thought by the security services.
"The scale of al-Qaeda's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we had previously judged," the document said, according to the newspaper. 'Suicide operatives'
"We still believe that AQ (al-Qaeda) will continue to seek opportunities for mass casualty attacks against soft targets and key infrastructure. "These attacks are likely to involve the use of suicide operatives."
The document said that "attack planning" against Britain was to increase this year, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
Britain was rocked in July 2005 when four British Islamists carried out suicide attacks on London's transport system, killing themselves and 52 others - the first such attacks in the kingdom.
The secret report said al-Qaeda - which was behind the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington - had a foothold in almost every majority-Muslim country. Afghanistan
Entitled "Extremist Threat Assessment", it said that Afghanistan was expected to overtake Iraq as the hotbed for terrorists plotting attacks against Western forces.
The US-led 37-nation coalition in Afghanistan is expecting to face a renewed assault on its forces by the Taliban, which was ousted from power following the 2001 attacks on the United States.
"With violence in Afghanistan intensifying, and therefore receiving greater media attention, the country may well become more attractive as a venue for foreigners wishing to fulfil their jihad ambitions," the document said. Daunting task
A senior political source told the newspaper that the outlook was "particularly bleak and unlikely to improve for several years".
"The security services have constantly warned that the task of countering Islamist terrorism is a daunting one. There will be more attacks in Britain."
Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of the MI5 domestic intelligence agency, disclosed in November last year that her agents were tracking over 1 600 suspects from 200 groups - most with al-Qaeda ties.
The spy chief warned of nearly 30 terror plots under investigation.
- AFP
|
News
