WE COULD BE NEXT TARGET
As Paris killers are hunted in forest, MI5’s chilling warning
THE head of MI5 warned yesterday that Al Qaeda is plotting spectacular ‘mass casualty’ attacks against Britain.
Targets of the resurgent group – which is directing British-based fanatics from overseas – include airlines or a Mumbai-style gun and bomb atrocity.
The warning came as 88,000 French police officers and soldiers continued to hunt the Al Qaeda gunmen who slaughtered 12 people in an attack on the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine.
Andrew Parker, the director-general of MI5, said it was almost inevitable an attack in Britain would succeed sooner or later. In a rare public speech, he warned: ‘Although we and our partners try our utmost, we know that we cannot hope to stop everything.’ On another day of drama yesterday: The two brothers suspected of the Paris massacre were thought to be hiding in a French forest as the manhunt continued;
One of the pair was linked to a key figure
at the notorious Finsbury Park Mosque, and both men have been known to security services for up to a decade;
A police officer was shot dead in Paris in a second attack within 4 hours;
Patrols were stepped up at the UK’s borders, ports and railway stations;
Ministers were warned of copy-cat attacks by fanatics inspired by the French killers.
Mr Parker’s speech, only his second since taking charge in April 013, warned that the UK was facing a string of ‘complex and ambitious plots’ against the likes of transport networks and major landmarks.
At the same time, fanatics also wish to emulate ‘crude’ attacks carried out overseas in recent months. Chillingly, tactics could include a ‘hit-and-run’ on a crowded public place using a lorry, van or car. Unlike gun or bomb plots, which involves buying weapons or equipment, such an attack would be hard for the security services to detect.
At least three plots which would have involved ‘certain deaths’ in Britain have been foiled in recent months, Mr Parker said.
Officials are also keeping tabs on up to 600 British extremists who have travelled to Syria – about 300 of who are now back home.
Mr Parker said: ‘We still face more complex and ambitious plots that follow the now sadly well-established approach of Al Qaeda and its imitators – attempts to cause large-scale loss of life, often by attacking transport systems or iconic targets. We know, for example, that a group of core Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria is planning mass casualty attacks against the West.’
He added: ‘The number of crude but potentially deadly plots has gone up. Last year’s attacks in Canada and Australia were examples. Such attacks are inherently harder for intelligence agencies to detect. They are often the work of volatile individuals, motivated by terrorist propaganda rather than working as part of sophisticated networks.’
But he went on: ‘It is almost always the case that someone, a member of the public or a friend, has had some prior insight into the dangerous direction they are moving in and the violent destination they are hoping to reach.
‘As we go forward into 015, we will need more help from the public in these sorts of situations.’ In his first public speech, in Octo- ber 013, Mr Parker warned of the huge damage done to MI5, MI6 and GCHQ by fugitive CIA worker Edward Snowden.
Snowden revealed to terrorists sensitive intelligence-gathering techniques, making it easier for them to avoid detection. The head of MI5 said last night his ‘sharpest concern’ was the ‘growing gap between the increasingly challenging threat and the decreasing availability of capabilities to address it’.
His speech, given to an invited audience at Thames House, was planned before the ‘dreadful’ Paris attacks took place.
He said: ‘It is too early for us to come to judgments about the precise details or origin of the attack but it is a terrible reminder of the intentions of those who wish us harm.’