UK foils terror plot, woman shot
Six held in second incident within hours of knifeman’s arrest near Parliament
London, April 28: British counter-terrorism police said on Friday they had thwarted an active plot after a woman was shot during an armed raid on a house in north London in the second major security operation in the British capital in the space of a few hours, even as the police warned they were facing an “increased level of terrorist activity”.
Armed counter-terrorism officers using tear gas stormed a house in the Willesden area of the capital on Thursday evening which had been under surveillance, shooting a woman in her 20s.
Six people have been arrested as part of the probe, while the woman, who is also suspected of involvement, remains in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
Asked if police had foiled an active plot, Neil Basu, senior national coordinator for counter terrorism policing, replied: “Yes”.
In a separate incident only hours earlier, a man was arrested carrying at least three knives near Prime Minister Theresa May’s office in Westminster during another operation by armed counter-terrorism police.
The 27-year-old, who was being monitored by British intelligence agents and police, remains in custody.
“I wanted to reassure the public that this increased level of terrorist activity is being matched by our action... We are making arrests on a near daily basis,” Mr Basu said.
“Due to these arrests that we have made, I believe that we have contained the threats that they posed,” he said, adding it had been “an extraordinary day in London”. Both incidents occurred just over a month after a British-born convert to Islam plowed a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people, before stabbing to death a police officer who was in the grounds of parliament. The man responsible, Khalid Masood, was shot dead at the scene.
“The armed entry was necessary due to the nature of the intelligence we were dealing with and involved armed officers firing CS gas into the address,” Mr Basu said, adding searches at three houses were on. — Reuters