maven
03-25-2009, 12:06 PM
From 'The Times'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5966489.ece
March 25, 2009
~Rising threat of dirty bomb attack on UK, says Jacqui Smith~
Richard Ford, Home Correspondent.
A terrorist attack on Britain with chemical, nuclear or biological weapons is now “more realistic” because of the increasing theft of materials used to make a dirty bomb, the Government warned yesterday.
As the Government published an updated counter-terrorism strategy, the danger facing the country was highlighted with the claim that more than 20 Britons monitored by Pakistani intelligence have returned to Britain. The men are believed to have spent time with radical militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Taleban. All the suspects are aged between 17 and 23 and have apparently created “sufficient suspicion” for Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, to believe that they pose a danger to Britain, according to Sky News.
The Government outlined the threat facing Britain from new technologies and the splintering of terrorist groups in a 167-page document, which said that al-Qaeda was short of money and had failed to create a mass movement to overthrow some governments and change the policies of others. It said, though, that al-Qaeda was likely to fragment and that Britain might come under threat from “self-starting” terrorist organisations or individuals.
Terrorists will have access to new technology and could become capable of conducting more lethal operations, the report said. “Contemporary terrorist organisations aspire to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. Changing technology and the theft and smuggling of CBRN materials make this aspiration more realistic than it may have been in the recent past,” it said.
Asked whether there was a greater threat of a dirty bomb attack than there was five years ago, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “There is the potential, given the international situation, what we believe to be the aspirations of some international terrorists, that it could be.”
The report said that there had also been significant developments in the threat to British interests by home-made bombs. Work to counter the danger posed by such devices to British troops in Afghanistan is being undertaken by the Ministry of Defence. A Home Office official said: “We are piggy-backing on that with an eye to the domestic threat.”
Britains top Muslim rock group advocates use of a dirty bomb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFf3jDpRlI&feature=related
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5966489.ece
March 25, 2009
~Rising threat of dirty bomb attack on UK, says Jacqui Smith~
Richard Ford, Home Correspondent.
A terrorist attack on Britain with chemical, nuclear or biological weapons is now “more realistic” because of the increasing theft of materials used to make a dirty bomb, the Government warned yesterday.
As the Government published an updated counter-terrorism strategy, the danger facing the country was highlighted with the claim that more than 20 Britons monitored by Pakistani intelligence have returned to Britain. The men are believed to have spent time with radical militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Taleban. All the suspects are aged between 17 and 23 and have apparently created “sufficient suspicion” for Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, to believe that they pose a danger to Britain, according to Sky News.
The Government outlined the threat facing Britain from new technologies and the splintering of terrorist groups in a 167-page document, which said that al-Qaeda was short of money and had failed to create a mass movement to overthrow some governments and change the policies of others. It said, though, that al-Qaeda was likely to fragment and that Britain might come under threat from “self-starting” terrorist organisations or individuals.
Terrorists will have access to new technology and could become capable of conducting more lethal operations, the report said. “Contemporary terrorist organisations aspire to use chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. Changing technology and the theft and smuggling of CBRN materials make this aspiration more realistic than it may have been in the recent past,” it said.
Asked whether there was a greater threat of a dirty bomb attack than there was five years ago, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “There is the potential, given the international situation, what we believe to be the aspirations of some international terrorists, that it could be.”
The report said that there had also been significant developments in the threat to British interests by home-made bombs. Work to counter the danger posed by such devices to British troops in Afghanistan is being undertaken by the Ministry of Defence. A Home Office official said: “We are piggy-backing on that with an eye to the domestic threat.”
Britains top Muslim rock group advocates use of a dirty bomb:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCFf3jDpRlI&feature=related