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British intelligence officials believe that al-Qaida is determined to attack the UK with a nuclear weapon, it emerged yesterday. The announcement, from an officially organised Foreign Office counter-terrorism briefing for the media, was the latest in a series of bleak assessments by senior officials and ministers about the terrorist threat facing Britain. UK officials have detected "an awful lot of chatter" on jihadi websites expressing the desire to acquire chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons.... The warning comes after a speech last week by the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, on the terrorist threat facing the UK, and a rare public...

Al-QAEDA is determined to acquire the technology to carry out a nuclear attack on the West, a senior Foreign Office official warned yesterday.She said that Osama bin Laden's terrorist network was trawling the world for the materials and know-how to mount an attack using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The latest warning echoes the remarks last week of the MI5 director-general, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, that future terror attacks in Britain could involve weapons of mass destruction. Asked if she had any doubt that al-Qaeda wanted to obtain the materials to carry out a nuclear attack on the West, the Foreign...