Intelligence chiefs fear that terrorists would attack London or
another western capital with bombs, the Sunday Telegraph
reported.
Security sources disclosed that most intelligence agencies held
that a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack
(CBRN),using a so-called dirty bomb, is inevitable, said the
report.
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The warning came three weeks after 250 police officers raided the
home of two Muslim brothers in west London, believing mistakenly
that they were related to the making of a chemical bomb.
The raid followed growing concern among Britain's intelligence
and security hierarchy that if a CBRN attack took place in the city
of London, it would devastate the country's economy and severely
damage the economies of Europe and America.
It also appeared that the police had been warned of the
activities in the hometown of the July 7 bombers almost two years
before the suicide attacks last year.
Senior officials say that the 9/11 attacks "freed the mind" of
intelligence agencies analyzing the capabilities of terrorists, and
it would be "reckless" to underestimate the "capability and intent"
of terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.
The Sunday Telegraph said the claim by British Home
Secretary John Reid that there are currently 20 active terrorist
conspiracies underway in Britain is now regarded as a "modest"
assessment, and the actual number is significantly more.
It is believed that the number of terrorist suspects believed to
be operating in Britain is more than 1,200, almost 400 more than
the figure quoted in the intelligence and security committee report
on the July 7 attacks published last month.
Nonetheless, security sources admit that they do not know the
full scale of the terrorism problem currently facing Britain.
(Xinhua News Agency June 26, 2006)
