Elite SAS soldiers poised to defend Christmas shoppers from ISIS terror thugs
There are fears an ISIS cell or lone wolf could strike at malls and busy city centres
SAS troops are expected to mingle among crowds of Christmas shoppers in London to foil terror attackers, it has been reported.
And heavily-armed members of the Who Dares Wins unit will be on standby to swoop should a lone wolf jihadi or ISIS terror cell strike.
More than 5,000 heavily armed troops could be called to battle terrorists if they launched a Paris-style attack in the UK, sources confirmed last year.
Under detailed contingency plans, dubbed Operation Temperer, soldiers plus war jets and combat choppers would be right behind armed police.
In August it was reported that SAS snipers have been trained to stop vehicles in crowds by shooting through engine blocks with armour-piercing bullets after the Nice lorry atrocity in which 84 people were killed in July.
The terror group's official radio station, al-Bayan, has warned "crusader states" in the West are not safe and other senior ISIS figures have also warned that civilians and crowds in the West are legitimate targets.
In May, ISIS propaganda chief Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, who was killed in an airstrike soon after, said: "“Know that inside the lands of the belligerent crusaders there is no sanctity of blood and no existence of those so-called innocents.
“Know that your targeting [of] those who are called ‘civilians’ is more beloved to us and more effective, as it is more harmful and painful and a greater deterrent to them. So go forth!”