Britain facing 'greatest terrorist threat' in history

Britain faces the “greatest and deepest” terror threat in the country’s history, David Cameron warned as he pledged emergency measures to tackle extremists.

The UK threat level was raised to “severe” — its second highest — meaning that a terrorist attack is “highly likely” in light of the growing danger from British jihadists returning from Iraq and Syria.

The Prime Minister said that the risk posed by Isil (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) will last for “decades” and raised the prospect of an expanding terrorist nation “on the shores of the Mediterranean”.

He disclosed that Isil had made “specific” threats against the UK and did not rule out military action to tackle the growing problem.

More than 500 Britons are believed to have gone to Iraq and Syria and at least half have returned, with some feared to be planning attacks here. One major plot has been foiled.

The warning came as it emerged that a laptop seized from Isil in Syria contained research on how to make a biological bomb and religious justification to use it against civilians.

On Monday, Mr Cameron will unveil a number of “uncompromising” measures to help tackle British jihadists and fill the “gaps in our armoury”.

They will include stopping British fanatics from travelling to or returning from the war zones by making it easier to seize their passports.

He is also expected to tighten controls that can be put on the movement and activities of terror suspects within the UK.

It is the first time in three years that the threat level has stood at severe, just one short of “critical”, which would mean an attack is imminent.

The raised alert will lead to an increase in the number of armed police on the streets, especially around landmark sites and airports.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, insisted that the move was not a result of any specific plot, but in light of the increasing dangers posed by British fanatics and other foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria.

The change also comes less than a week before a Nato summit in south Wales, which will be the biggest gathering of heads of state in the UK.

The White House said that it had consulted with the British Government about the heightened threat level, but there was no plan to raise America’s equivalent threat notice.

In a Downing Street press conference, Mr Cameron said: “What we’re facing in Iraq now with Isil is a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before.

“In Afghanistan the Taliban were prepared to play host to al-Qaeda. With Isil we are facing a terrorist organisation not being hosted in the country but seeking to establish and then violently expand its own terrorist state.

“We could be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean bordering a Nato State.

“We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology that I believe we will be fighting for years if not decades.”

Mr Cameron said that the world had been “shocked and sickened” by the Isil murder of James Foley, the US journalist, apparently by a British terrorist.

(The Telegraph)

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