TWISTED Islamic State want to attack western cities with a dirty bomb dropped
from a drone, national leaders fear.
The doomsday scenario was presented to David Cameron and more than 50 other
heads of state at a nuclear terror summit in Washington DC last night.
If the fanatics succeed, the attack could be devastating – killing potentially
thousands and leaving whole neighbourhoods as no go zones for decades.
As he attended global war games hosted by President Obama, the PM for the
first dubbed the prospect of a terrorist radioactive attack “only too real”.
His alarming warning came after it emerged that two of the IS suicide bombers
in Brussels last week had earlier spied on a nuclear power station worker.
Mr Cameron described “the concept of terrorists and nuclear materials coming
together” as “a very chilling prospect”, adding: “And something in the light
of the Belgian attacks, we know is a threat that is only too real”.
Downing Street aides say it is believed that IS commanders in Syria are
already using drones bought off the internet to mount frontline chemical
attacks.
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A senior UK Government official added: “We have already seen Daesh trying to
acquire these types of technology, can they get their hands on low level
crop-using-type drones”.
During the terror conference, the leaders also carried out a highly realistic
exercise to test their response to an imminent dirty bomb attack.
The session included being played fake news footage of the hypothetical attack
and forcing the heads of state to make rapid life and death decisions.
Under the scenario, a global terror organization such as IS bought radioactive
isotopes stolen from a nuclear lab.
It then used the material to build a crude device and load it onto a small
remote-controlled drone, to be crashed into a bustling European or US city.
The West is working as hard as possible to frustrate IS’s ambitions, Mr
Cameron insisted.
The PM added: “So many summits are about dealing with things that have already
gone wrong and we are trying to put right.
“This is a summit about something we are trying to prevent.
“That’s the point of being here and that action Britain has taken with
America, very much giving a lead on nuclear security, and the security of
nuclear sites, transport and materials.
“It is a very worthy and important topic, and we’re adding in quite a bit on
cyber security, particularly of nuclear installations.”
British and US special forces troops have been carrying out secret training to
seize and disable nuclear or radioactive bombs as a crucial last line of
defence.
A plan to tighten up nuclear defences was also agreed at the summit.
Britain also offered ally nations such as Japan and Turkey the help of spy
experts at GCHQ to thwart cyber attacks on their facilities.
Mr Cameron also pledged £10m to help boost security of nuclear plants
worldwide.