British Thwart Major 'Madrid-Size' Terror Attack

netscape.cnn.com ^ | Dec. 10, 2004 | Andrew Cawthorne

[crushelits]

'Madrid-Style' Attack Thwarted in London - Police

LONDON (Reuters) - Security services have thwarted a planned attack on London similar to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid by Islamic extremists, the British capital's police chief said on Thursday.

"Thank God to date, and we have had to work extremely hard, we've thwarted attacks," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told the BBC.

Asked if his force had stopped a strike on the scale of the Spanish attack, he added: "Yes, I can't discuss it because of court proceedings -- but yes we have stopped a Madrid."

The morning rush-hour bombings on commuter trains killed 191 people in the most devastating attack in modern Spanish history, just three days before a general election.

The attackers claimed to represent al Qaeda in Europe.

Stevens said "a number" of attacks had been thwarted in London and "hundreds" of terrorist suspects were being processed in British courts, according to extracts on the BBC Web site.

He would not give any details.

Like other senior public figures here, he reiterated that Britain was a prime target for radicals: "The risk of an attack to London has not changed. An attack is still inevitable."

Only last month, the head of Britain's security service MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, also warned: "There might be major attacks like Madrid earlier this year."

[freebilly]

"The risk of an attack to London has not changed. An attack is still inevitable."

It's inevitable that it will take place there and in the US.

Chilling.

[dagnabbit]

Islamic immigration's natural consequence: domestic Islamic terror.

[mtbopfuyn]

It's inevitable that it will take place there and in the US. Chilling.

But, but Kerry and the dimwits claim it's just a mere nuisance. Thanks be for Bush.

[kb2614]

And Michael Moore said there is no terrorist threat, so this is obviously another Karl Rove ploy.


(sarcasm off)

[highlander_UW]

But, but Kerry and the dimwits claim it's just a mere nuisance.

I think Kerry's quote was actually that he wanted to roll back the clock to the point where occasional mass murders by terrorists was viewed as a mere nuisance.

[sam_paine]

OK. WWell I want to roll back the clock to where aging was a nuisance, and hangovers were just a mere nuisance, and gas prices were just.....

[Route101]

Sounds like they are going to need their own Gitmo on Jersey Island...all that quaint tourist crap will have to go....better yet put them all in a pig pen on one of those remote Scottish Islands...barren, inescapable and freezing just about now.....

[expatpat]

It's inevitable that it will take place there and in the US.

Unless everyone who refuses to eat a pork sausage is deported, and noone who refuses is allowed to enter the US!