Brit spooks probe Paris terror link
MI5 STUDY COP KILLERS Arabic lessons for task force
UK spies are looking into links between Paris police killer Karim Cheurfi and Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood.
Security services are probing whether the Isis fanatics, who both butchered police officers before being killed, could have known each other.
Extremist Cheurfi, 39, opened fire near the Champs-Elysees last week, killing a police officer and wounding two others.
The Daily Star Sunday has learned it is possible Cheurfi could have spent time in Britain and had links to UK jihadis.
Intelligence sources believe he could also have known Islamist groups connected to the death of British police officer PC Keith Palmer.
A security source said: “Part of the British investigation is looking into the personal history of Cheurfi and Masood to see if they were linked in any way.
“They also want to know whether the murder of two policemen was a coincidence or part of some wider plot.”
They said MI5 is now working closely with the French General Directorate for Internal Security on the possible links between the two murders.
Two years ago Isis ordered its followers to “rise up and kill intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers and civilians”.
Hero PC Palmer was killed by twisted Brit Masood, 52, inset, who also murdered four others when he ploughed his car into them on Westminster Bridge last month.
British agents are now looking at ISOBEL DICKINSON the possibility the Paris gunman had visited the UK under an alias or met with British jihadis prior to the attack. The probe is part of an investigation into an international jihadist chain with access to the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. MI5 are also trying to establish contacts between Cheurfi’s network and any links to previous UK plots. One security source said: “The UK is urgently trying to establish whether there is a British connection. “MI5 want to know whether Cheurfi had any links no matter how distant, with anyone in the UK. “There seems to be evidence of a connection with the UK.” Within hours of the attack OFFICERS on Britain’s Counter Terror Task Force are being taught French and Arabic.
Defence chiefs have developed a crack team to provide a permanent “on call” response to assist police anywhere in the UK. A central part of the soldiers’ training has been developing language skills, enabling them to understand potential terrorist targets.
The 120-strong unit has spent months honing skills it emerged that Cheurfi, a French national, served 15-years in prison for attempting to kill two police officers and had also been arrested for trying to buy weapons this year.
But he was released by French prosecutors in February and disappeared off the security services’ radar in a move now being viewed as a major blunder.
Cheurfi re-emerged last Thursday evening when he shot dead 37-yearold Jugele in central Paris with an AK-47 assault rifle and wounded two other officers before being killed.
A woman tourist from Germany, was also hurt in the incident as Isis claimed one of its “soldiers” carried out the atrocity.
MI5 and European intelligence agencies are also re-examining further historic links between Belgian and French jihadists and the UK as part of investigations into attacks across Europe. PATRICK WILLIAMS from helicopter “fast roping” to hostage cordon drills. Drawn from B Company of the Special Forces Support Group – a specialist force of Paras and Marines – the soldiers have two Chinook helicopters ready to fly them to any major incident.
A senior source said: “The evolution of the counter terrorist response is changing all the time. Our primary objective is speed and to make sure we deliver a fast and robust capability to the police. “Once you establish a counter-terror capability you need to change it and develop it on a regular basis or the team lose their edge.”
The concept is the brainchild of Colonel Nick Perry, former military liaison advisor to the Prime Minister. Among its specialists the unit includes counter-IED teams and medics who can be airlifted to a major incident.