U.K. Faces Dangerous Stretch in Fight on Terror
Source: WSJ
The pronouncement by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson—in a London speech at the Royal United Services Institute, a security and defense think tank—comes at a time when officials across the continent are concerned about the prospect of an attack, including a possible "commando" style attack like the one staged in Mumbai in 2008.
A British security official said Wednesday there is genuine concern that such an attack could take place in Britain and is "something we worry about." U.S. and European intelligence agencies have picked up increased talk—from eavesdropping and through agents—that attacks in Europe are being plotted.
The point was underscored again by events across Europe this week. On Wednesday, Belgian police charged nine people with belonging to terrorist groups. The nine were arrested Tuesday and, according to police, were part of an Antwerp-based Moroccan terror network whose alleged aims were an attack on Belgian soil and steering cash and recruits to Islamic rebels in Chechnya.
Also on Wednesday, the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office warned travelers of a heightened threat in Denmark after intelligence services there warned of the increased risk of attack.
Officials in Germany are currently racing to track a group thought to be planning a small-arms attack on one or more urban centers there sometime in the next three months, according to an official familiar with the matter. German authorities are also tracking two suspected suicide bombers believed to be planning to strike a prominent location, possibly in Berlin, said a person familiar with the inquiry.
In his speech, Sir Paul said there can be "no complacency" in the country's defenses against terror.
"In my judgment, and this is a view shared by my senior colleagues in the Security Service, this is undoubtedly as dangerous a time as we have seen for the U.K., and U.K. interests abroad, since the attempted attacks … in 2007," he said.
In June 2007, police discovered an unexploded bomb outside a nightclub in London and two terrorists tried to set off a truck full of gas canisters by ramming it into Glasgow Airport.
Sir Paul's warning comes as part of a steady drumroll of cautions in recent months from senior British security figures. In September, Jonathan Evans, the head of Britain's domestic spy agency MI5, warned that the U.K. faces potent threats from terrorism incubated in the Middle East, North Africa and Northern Ireland.
More recently, the U.K., which has long been seen as a major target for terrorist attack, has been joined in warning its citizens by European countries such as Germany and France and by a recent uptick in related arrests. In part this came after U.S. authorities last month disclosed information about terrorist sleeper cells in Europe that they said were close to being activated.
The threats aren't limited to Europe's biggest countries. Denmark's Center for Terror Analysis said that there are "new indications" that terror groups abroad seek to send terrorists to attack Denmark. The Nordic country has already been the subject of threats and attacks after a Danish newspaper printed a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed.
Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com
By ALISTAIR MACDONALD
The U.K. faces its most dangerous stretch in the fight against terrorism since two failed attacks in the summer of 2007, Britain's most senior police official said, reflecting increased worries of terrorist attack across Europe.The pronouncement by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson—in a London speech at the Royal United Services Institute, a security and defense think tank—comes at a time when officials across the continent are concerned about the prospect of an attack, including a possible "commando" style attack like the one staged in Mumbai in 2008.
A British security official said Wednesday there is genuine concern that such an attack could take place in Britain and is "something we worry about." U.S. and European intelligence agencies have picked up increased talk—from eavesdropping and through agents—that attacks in Europe are being plotted.
The point was underscored again by events across Europe this week. On Wednesday, Belgian police charged nine people with belonging to terrorist groups. The nine were arrested Tuesday and, according to police, were part of an Antwerp-based Moroccan terror network whose alleged aims were an attack on Belgian soil and steering cash and recruits to Islamic rebels in Chechnya.
Also on Wednesday, the U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office warned travelers of a heightened threat in Denmark after intelligence services there warned of the increased risk of attack.
Officials in Germany are currently racing to track a group thought to be planning a small-arms attack on one or more urban centers there sometime in the next three months, according to an official familiar with the matter. German authorities are also tracking two suspected suicide bombers believed to be planning to strike a prominent location, possibly in Berlin, said a person familiar with the inquiry.
In his speech, Sir Paul said there can be "no complacency" in the country's defenses against terror.
"In my judgment, and this is a view shared by my senior colleagues in the Security Service, this is undoubtedly as dangerous a time as we have seen for the U.K., and U.K. interests abroad, since the attempted attacks … in 2007," he said.
In June 2007, police discovered an unexploded bomb outside a nightclub in London and two terrorists tried to set off a truck full of gas canisters by ramming it into Glasgow Airport.
Sir Paul's warning comes as part of a steady drumroll of cautions in recent months from senior British security figures. In September, Jonathan Evans, the head of Britain's domestic spy agency MI5, warned that the U.K. faces potent threats from terrorism incubated in the Middle East, North Africa and Northern Ireland.
More recently, the U.K., which has long been seen as a major target for terrorist attack, has been joined in warning its citizens by European countries such as Germany and France and by a recent uptick in related arrests. In part this came after U.S. authorities last month disclosed information about terrorist sleeper cells in Europe that they said were close to being activated.
The threats aren't limited to Europe's biggest countries. Denmark's Center for Terror Analysis said that there are "new indications" that terror groups abroad seek to send terrorists to attack Denmark. The Nordic country has already been the subject of threats and attacks after a Danish newspaper printed a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed.
Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com
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