Muslim Terrorism - WAITING FOR THE JIHADI TERRORIST
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Waiting for the jihadi terrorist
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Terrorist attack is "highly likely" security services say
The threat of a terrorist attack has been raised to "severe" amid
fears that al-Qaeda is planning a wave of attacks following the
Detroit bombings.
By Duncan Gardham, Security Correspondent
Daily Telegraph
January 22, 2010
The decision follows analysis by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre
(JTAC), a unit within MI5, and indicates an attack is now "highly
likely."
It was made following briefings to the Prime Minister by the heads of
the security services MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and a meeting of the
Government's Cobra emergency committee.
The move comes as foreign ministers are preparing to meet in London
next week to discuss the threat of terrorism in Yemen and
Afghanistan.
Those present will include Hamid Karzai, the Afghan President, Ban
Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General and US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton.
Sources said the Detroit attack on Christmas Day, which demonstrated
a new methodology and increased threat, was "one of the factors" but
said the decision is taken after looking at intelligence "in the
round."
MI5 is watching around 2,000 individuals across Britain although the
activity among domestic extremists is not thought to have risen
significantly in recent months.
Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary said: "I should stress that there is
no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent.
"JTAC keeps the threat level under constant review makes its
judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and
capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and
overseas.
"We still face a real and serious threat to the UK from international
terrorism so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on
reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to
support the police and security services in their continuing efforts
to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity."
Gordon Brown warned earlier this week that "a number of terrorist
cells are actively trying to attack Britain and other countries."
His speech to the House of Commons came after he received a briefing
on the latest intelligence at a meeting of the Cabinet's National
Security Committee.
Mr Brown said the failed attack over Detroit on Christmas Day
signalled "the first operation mounted outside Arabia by al-Qaeda in
the Arabian Peninsula."
He also talked about the increased threat from Somalia in East Africa
and the Sahel in West Africa, adding that there would be a greater
degree of intelligence sharing with foreign countries.
Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, who tried to set off a bomb in his
underwear, has warned his FBI interrogators that up to 20 "more like
me" may be preparing further attacks.
The government is setting up a new �watch list' system to try and
stop terrorist suspects boarding planes.
MI5, MI6 and the GCHQ listening centre have also begun setting up
"joint investigating and targeting teams", which are designed to
address potential threats before suspects might reach Britain.
The teams are designed to work with the Joint Terrorism Analysis
Centre to collect, share and use intelligence.
The US Department for Homeland Security said the measures effectively
put Britain at the same alert level as America following the
Christmas Day attack.
Severe is the fourth of five threat levels. The level was reduced to
"substantial" last July for the first time in four years after a
judgment was made that there had been a "chilling" effect on
terrorism in Britain.
The assessment is based on a range of factors including intelligence,
current terrorist activity, comparison with events in other countries
and previous attacks.
MI5 say that it is rare that specific intelligence about a threat is
available and can be relied on and that more often, judgements about
the threat will be based on a wide range of information, which is
often "fragmentary".
Those elements include what is known about the capabilities of
terrorists, the method they may use, and the potential scale of the
attack as well as the targets they would consider attacking.
UK terror threat raised to 'severe', Home Secretary announces
The UK's terror threat level has been raised from substantial to
severe, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has announced.
By Andrew Hough
Published: 8:37PM GMT 22 Jan 2010
The announcement means that an attack is now "highly likely".
Mr Johnson said that although the threat had increased there was no
intelligence to suggest an attack was imminent.
The Home Secretary was not specific about the threat, but indicated
it was not linked to the Detroit bombing on Christmas Day.
"The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has today raised the threat to
the UK from international terrorism from substantial to severe," he
said.
"This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should
stress that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is
imminent.
"JTAC keeps the threat level under constant review and makes its
judgments based on a broad range of factors, including the intent and
capabilities of international terrorist groups in the UK and
overseas."
He said that authorities were "not being specific about this, we are
not gong to be specific about this".
"In his statement to Parliament on security and counter terrorism
earlier this week, the Prime Minister said that the first and most
important duty of government is the protection and security of the
British people," he said.
"We still face a real and serious threat to the UK from international
terrorism so I would urge the public to remain vigilant and carry on
reporting suspicious events to the appropriate authorities and to
support the police and security services in their continuing efforts
to discover, track and disrupt terrorist activity.
"We have a very focused counter terrorism facility in this country
and the public should be reassured by that."
He added: "The fact is we keep this under review and moving to this
different threat level means we have to be more alert and it means
that an attack has moved to the level of being likely, but we have
absolutely no intelligence to suggest that it is imminent."
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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