Terrorist attack on the UK ‘highly likely’ warns Patel
●Warning as security services detect ‘new tempo’ in attacks on Europe
The UK has raised its terror threat level to ‘severe’ following Monday night’s attack in Vienna - meaning a similar event on UK soil is thought to be ‘highly likely’.
The decision to escalate the UK terror threat level to" severe" was a" precautionary measure" following Islamist attacks in Austria and France, Home Secretary Priti Patel said.
It comes after gunmen, believed by Austrian police to have an Islamist motive, killed three people and left several wounded on Monday night as they went on a shooting spree through Vienna armed with an assault rifle, carrying other hand guns, and wearing a fake explosive belt.
The attack happened on the eve of Austria entering a coronavirus lock down–a move England will emu late tomorrow after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced
bars, restaurants and most other hospitality venues will have to shut for four weeks until December 2 in a bid to stifle the rate of the virus' transmission.
In a statement, Ms Patel said: "The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has this afternoon changed the threat level from terrorism from substantial to severe. The British people should be alert but not alarmed.
"This is a precautionary measure following the horrific events of the last week in France and last night in Austria and is not based on a specific threat. We have already taken significant steps to amend our powers and strengthen the tools for dealing with the developing terrorist threats we face. That process will continue and the British public should be in no doubt that we will take the strongest possible action to protect our national security." She said the country faced a "real and serious threat" from terrorism and called for the "public to remain vigilant" and to report suspicious activity.
The terror threat level was lowered to" sub stanti al ", meaning an attack was thought to be likely rather than highly likely, in November 2019. But recent events in Austria and France have convinced terror experts that there is now a greater risk of an attack on Britain.
It is understood that there has been no specific threat to the UK but security services are reported to believe recent attacks in Europe were "different in tactic and tempo" and have raised the level in direct response to that.
The UK is said to have been operating at the top of "substantial" for some time with events in Vienna being enough to nudge the UK into the "severe" category.
Assistant Commissioner Neil Bas, UK head of counter-terrorism policing, said officers would be deployed to "certain locations" as part of the "severe" terror threat grading. He said: "We have activated the established planning mechanisms across the police service.
"Some of this will be visible and involve additional police officers being deployed to certain places and locations, which the public can expect to see over the coming days.
"From this afternoon we will begin to increase our levels of visible patrols and implement other security and protection measures."