Posted on 02/15/2003 11:53:17 PM PST by FairOpinion
The police and security services are bracing themselves for a 'spectacular' attack by rogue suicide bombers on British targets.
Senior police officers now believe the threat of attacks by al-Qaeda militants on Britain has increased following the release of a new audiotape from Osama bin Laden reminding militants of the duty of martyrdom.
One senior police source told The Observer: 'They have a stated aim that they will send suicide terrorists and we know they have the capability.'
The authenticity of the tape, broadcast by Middle East TV station al-Jazeera on Tuesday, was verified yesterday by American analysts. In the tape, bin Laden is heard to say: 'We stress the importance of martyrdom attacks against the enemy.' A second tape circulating among militants includes a pledge by bin Laden to become a martyr himself.
The new alert follows a week of high tension that saw tanks and troops stationed at London's Heathrow airport after a threat to shoot down an aircraft with a shoulder-held missile launcher.
The source confirmed the military response was a blunt instrument 'more about the deterrent effect than catching anyone'.
Tony Blair ordered a 'ring of steel' around Heathrow airport after the cabinet's emergency Cobra committee received intelligence from MI5 of an attack to coincide with the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage at the end of the festival of Eid. Anti-terrorist police told the Prime Minister they could not guarantee public safety using covert techniques such as surveillance and raids on known suspects.
Operations were thought to have focused on the thousands of pilgrims travelling to the Muslim holy city of Mecca that passed through Heathrow last week, which the intelligence services believed may have provided cover for a lone al-Qaeda operative to slip into Britain, or for the transfer of explosives and weapons. British Airways has three flights a week between Heathrow and Riyadh and Emirates Airlines three a day.
A security sources dismissed speculation last night that the military response at Heathrow was staged for publicity purposes: 'It should be absolutely clear that the threat is serious, real and ongoing. The mere fact of the deployment of troops to Heathrow was a significant signal. The response was proportionate.'
This weekend, the military presence at Heathrow was scaled back as police and intelligence services shifted the emphasis to suicide attacks.
There is clear evidence that al-Qaeda has been trying to organise a suicide attack in Britain for some time. Last year documents seized from Islamic militants arrested in Spain revealed that Algerian militants had planned a route into the UK through Ireland. One had drawn a sketchmap of Europe marking a projected itinerary through Germany and Ireland to London where, he wrote, he hoped to commit an act of 'martyrdom' for 'the greater glory of God'.
Bin Laden himself has repeatedly called on 'the youths of Islam' to sacrifice themselves, most recently in a 53-minute statement issued in the last two weeks and circulated among journalists.
Some experts warn that the recent focus on spectacular attacks involving high-tech weaponry risks were diverting attention from the threat from so-called 'freelance' operators.
Yesterday American officials appeared to be drawing back from their strong warnings earlier in the week. Washington had received no new intelligence in recent days to suggest an imminent attack, they said.
One American former counter-terrorist official said last week's alerts had been based on false information given deliberately by an al-Qaeda prisoner held in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Islam is an insane murder cult, from Mohammed the Mass Murderer until today. It is a "religion" forged in blood and steel, which promises an eternity of raping 72 young virgins to those who commit the mass murder of "infidel" women and children.
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