SkyNews: The Paris attacks and last month’s bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt herald a possible return to more ambitious mass casualty attacks, according to the two men responsible for safeguarding the nation at the time of the London bombings.
Former defence and home secretary Lord Reid and Lord Blair, in charge of Scotland Yard at the time of 7/7, have told Sky News they believe the capability of so-called IS has now caught up with their ambition to mount attacks on a global scale.
It has been more than a decade since four suicide bombers struck the London transport system, killing 52 innocent people and injuring almost a thousand more.
At the time of those attacks, terrorists tried to carry out other very ambitious multiple bombings.
Five would be suicide bombers were jailed for planning a second attack on London just two weeks after 7/7 and police and security services foiled plans for a large scale attack on transatlantic passenger planes, using liquid bombs.
The decade since has been largely defined by numerous lower intensity terror plots.
Former Met Commissioner Lord Blair says he firmly believes that era is over and the UK is entering a new and more dangerous phase.
“These last few weeks – with the bombs in Istanbul, the Sharm el Sheikh plane and now Paris – are showing this group ISIS to have some capabilities, a bit like they had in 2005 when it was al Qaeda inspired.”
Lord Blair said he feared police forces would find it much more difficult in the years ahead to gain proper ground level intelligence on people of concern because of Home Office budget cuts, which were forcing chief constables to reduce traditional neighbourhood policing.
Lord Reid was defence secretary at the time of the London bombings and then home secretary when police foiled the liquid bomb plot.
He believes the recent multi-pronged attacks in Turkey, Egypt, Beirut and France are a worrying illustration that the capability of IS is now catching up with its ambition.
Lord Reid, who now heads the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies, said: “Their ambition remains the same, but they’re adapting to circumstances, and in particular, the circumstances of young men going to Syria to be trained, and then coming back to this country.”
Around 750 British citizens are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq and about half are now back in the UK.
Chris Philips, former head of the National Counter Terrorism and Security Office said the concern for police and the security services is that many were now returning with specific training on how to use weapons and make bombs.
“We’ve got people now that have potentially killed people in Iraq and Syria coming back to our country.
“And quite frankly, we don’t know who they all are, where they all are and it’s impossible for the security services and the police – with the resources they’ve got – to keep an eye on these people and keep them under surveillance.”
UK authorities say the public should not be alarmed, but must certainly be vigilant.
An urgent review is now under way to ensure the UK can properly respond if a major attack hits British streets.
But authorities stress there is no specific intelligence beyond the general severe terror threat level.
*** From TheHill: Authorities in Honduras say they have arrested five Syrian nationals who were attempting to travel to the United States using stolen Greek passports, according to Reuters. Authorities said there was no apparent indication the Syrians were among suspects linked to last week’s attacks in Paris, the news outlet reported.
