UK braces for heightened terror threat from Islamists

Terror threat level raised to 'severe' as government tries to tackle danger from citizens returning from fighting alongside Islamist extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Prime minister David Cameron adresses a news conference at 10 Downing Street after Britain raised its terror threat level to ‘severe’ on August 29, 2014. Paul Hackett / AFP

LONDON // Britain’s prime minister pledged on Friday to plug gaps the country’s armoury to combat terror, describing the threat posed by Islamist extremists who have captured large parts of Iraq and Syria as more dangerous than even that of Al Qaeda.

David Cameron’s remarks came after authorities raised Britain’s terror threat level to “severe”, the second highest level. The home secretary, Teresa May, said decision was related to developments in Iraq and Syria, but there was no information to suggest an attack was imminent.

“What we are facing in Iraq now with ISIL is a greater threat to our security than we have seen before,” Mr Cameron said, using the acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

He said that while the Taliban facilitated Al Qaeda terrorism, ISIL was “effectively a state run by terrorists”. He said the ambition to create an Islamist caliphate is not something that could be ignored.

“We could be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a Nato member,” he said.

Intelligence and security services now believe some 500 Britons have gone to fight in Syria and potentially Iraq. Some of the plots are likely to involve fighters who have travelled from Britain and Europe to take part in fighting in the Middle East.

British police have appealed to the public to help identify aspiring terrorists after the killing of an American journalist focused attention on extremism in the UK. The involvement of a person with a British accent in James Foley’s beheading underscored the need to identify those who might travel abroad to fight or are at risk of being radicalized.

The attack on a Jewish museum in Brussels also underscored the willingness of the members of the group to attack Europeans.

British authorities say about 70 arrests have been made in the first half of the year for a variety of offences, including fundraising, preparing for terrorism acts and travelling abroad for terrorist training. The police say such arrests are being made at a rate five times greater than 2013.

One action Mr Cameron outlined was the possibility that passports could be taken away. He said further measures would be described in the House of Commons on Monday.

It was a move also proposed by the Netherlands yesterday, from where an estimated 130 Dutch citizens have gone to fight in Iraq and Syria.

“The law will be toughened with the aim of withdrawing Dutch nationality from jihadists who have joined an armed terrorist group, even without a criminal conviction,” the government said in a summary of a letter to parliament from the justice minister Ivo Opstelten.

The action could however only be taken against Dutch citizens with dual nationality, as “no one should be left stateless”, the government said.

Many Dutch Muslims from immigrant families have dual nationality, particularly Moroccan.

“Taking away Dutch nationality means these people are no longer welcome in this country, that they cannot return,” Mr Opstelten said.

The British government also wants to revive a directive to enable police and security services to share passenger records in the European Union. Concerns about civil liberties have stalled the measure in the European Parliament.

“The root cause of this threat to our security is quite clear,” Mr Cameron said. “It is a poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism that is condemned by all faiths and faith leaders.”

Britain raised the country’s terror threat level from substantial to severe just before Mr Cameron held his news conference. The threat level means a terrorist attack is considered highly likely.

Home secretary Theresa May said the decision by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre was made on the basis of intelligence and independent of government. “Severe” is the second-highest of five levels.

The last time the rate was raised to severe was in September 2010 – in response to the attempt to detonate a bomb on a US passenger plane over Detroit. It was last raised to the highest level, or critical, in June 2007, after a car on fire was driven into the Glasgow Airport terminal building and – separately – two devices were found in cars in central London.

On July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers attacked the London transit system at rush hour and killed 52 commuters and injured hundreds.

* Associated Press