Britain’s spies foiling an average of EIGHT terror attacks a year amid disturbing signs of a Al-Qaeda ‘resurgence’
INTELLIGENCE services are foiling an average of eight terror attacks a year — amid disturbing signs of a “resurgence” of Al-Qaeda.
Ministers have issued a warning that the terror threat is on the rise again, causing an “evolving and enduring” challenge for MI5.
Around 75 per cent of the security service’s time is now spent battling the Islamist threat, as well-known terror groups including IS continue to “evolve and adapt”.
A total of 39 terror attacks have been thwarted since 2017’s Manchester, London Bridge and Westminster attacks, the Home Office’s counter-terrorism strategy Contest revealed yesterday.
The Manchester Arena concert bombing killed 22, while eight victims died in the London Bridge van ramming and stab attack.
A further five were killed when a car was used to mow down pedestrians outside the Palace of Westminster and a police officer was stabbed to death.
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There have been nine attacks since then — which killed six and injured 20 others.
And the number of attempted terror plots is expected to rise in the future, thanks to “persistent” threats from overseas.
Cops have been successful in busting late-stage attacks aimed at MPs, public events such as Pride, and popular crowded sites in London.
But an attack is still considered “likely” at any time, with Westminster and public transport hubs all at risk of being targeted.
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Home Secretary Suella Braverman, said: “We now face a domestic terrorist threat which is less predictable, harder to detect and investigate.
“There is a persistent and evolving threat from Islamist terrorist groups overseas and an operating environment where technology continues to provide both opportunity and risk to our counter-terrorism efforts.”
Threats are becoming harder to investigate and disrupt thanks to more so-called “lone wolves” acting outside of groups, officials warned.
One example was the murder of Southend West MP Sir David Amess in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in October 2021.
His killer, aged 25, was an Islamic State sympathiser who confessed to the murder, citing religious motives.
The 2005 London 7/7 suicide bombings — which killed 52 — and the 2015 series of Paris attacks, were directed from afar by Al-Qaeda and Isis.
But the masterminds of these were then forced underground and “significantly degraded” as security services ramped up their monitoring and foiled further terror plots.
Lone actors who are inspired by these terrorist groups are now considered the most likely threat to Britain — but are far harder to identify and disrupt.
Recently, both Al-Qaeda and IS have succeeded in building up small cells and are on the rise again.
Officials warn: “Al-Qaeda remains a potent and resilient threat, despite the loss of key leadership figures.”
They are taking advantage of the Western withdrawal from Afghanistan by cosying up to the ruling Taliban leaders, and using the country as a platform from where they can launch attack operations.
The report warns: “We anticipate both Daesh (IS) and Al-Qaida will take advantage of reduced counter-terrorism pressure to attempt to strengthen their ability to carry out complex, directed attacks.”
Spin-off groups “now operate with relative freedom in more territory than ever before” and “are becoming more capable and deadly”, the report says. It warns IS still has the “ability and intent” to cause mass casualty attacks.
Killing devices being used by the terrorists have moved towards vehicles and knives — which are easier to get hold of — but explosives are still a major worry.
General Abdul Wahab el-Saadi, of the Iraqi Counter Terror Service in Baghdad, warned in June the UK was likely the next target.
He said: “We do have evidence that terrorists here are in contact with extremists in the United Kingdom, and that they are plotting.”
Officials are also braced for a surge of terrorists being released from jail this year.
Some 41 were let out in the year to March, with more on the way out in the coming months.
They could need security monitoring for decades to come. Four of the nine declared terror attacks in the UK since 2018 were perpetrated by serving or recently released prisoners — including the 2020 Reading knife murders of three men in a park, stabbings in Streatham, South London, and the 2019 Fishmongers’ Hall attack, in which two died.
Extremists are known to have long been using prisons to spread their ideologies and recruit more inmates to their cause.
As of March this year, there were 232 people in custody for terror offences in the UK.
AI is helping intelligence services get the upper hand on plotters but the terrorists also exploit the technology to publicise their actions on the internet, using encryption to hide them from security services.
Elsewhere, the report warns that Russia and China are trying to “promote divisive and polarising narratives in the West” by exploiting right-wing terror.
Spy bosses are also monitoring the risk posed by the so-called Incel movement — involving young men with a hatred of women — which could be named as a terror threat in future.
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Home Office officials revealed there is a link between poor mental health and those who go on to try and harm.
Looking up twisted conspiracy theories could also be a gateway to terror, they said.
