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Eight arrests As UK stays in Critical alert status - warnings were there |
gibfocus - 3rd July 2007
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2007-07-03 01:20:00) |
The UK remains at the highest level of security alert since last year with the authorities still seeking more possible bombers after a series of averted attacks in London and a fire car attack at Glasgow airport. Fortunately with no loss of life yet recorded.
With eight arrests already having taken place, five of which are reported to include trainee doctors, the UK continues at a critical level of alert, as the investigation spans the whole of the nation.
The Baghdad styled attacks has surprised many, except security analysts and experts who have since recent attacks across the globe warned of a new wave of terror by Islamic terrorist groups using low technology devices, and based on replicating attacks in regions such as Iraq and the Middle East. Some experts having warned that attacks could take place this summer in the UK.
The latest terrorist attacks in the UK comes just a month after both CNN and ABC revealed that a videotape supposedly showing a suicide bomber "graduation ceremony" at an al Qaeda-Taliban training camp claimed that suicide bombers were supposedly sent off on their missions in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany.
The propaganda campaign video from the terrorist network was supposedly shot on June 9 by a Pakistani journalist who was invited to take pictures. The video included images of Taliban military commander Mansoor Dadullah, his brother was killed last month by U.S. forces. On the tape, the leader of the British team speaking of the mission in broken English said "Let me say something about why we are going along with my team to tell a suicide attack in Britain."
The video at the time send a chilling note across the security services with warnings that attacks in the UK were more than likely this summer.
The latest wave of attacks, although as yet to be ascertained if directly related to the warnings, has seen experts highlight that a new style terror threat now exists in the UK. With Al Qaeda known to use sleeper groups, and its methods ?flying low past the radar? as some experts claim due to the use of unsophisticated weaponry, experts have warned of the potentially long term risks that continues to exist as Islamic radical terrorist cells continue to emerge across the globe. Many not dismissing the possibility of groups trying to replicate Baghdad style attacks on a continuous level as a means of destabilizing the fabric of the society it targets. The latest style of attacks in London being amongst one of the many areas highlighted by international experts as a trend they advised could be adopted by Islamic groups following the 9/11 attacks.
Experts have this weekend highlighted how even the 9/11 attacks, perpetrated by sleeper cells was itself a low technological attack, ?using the means at their disposal,? as one expert highlighted. Whilst the 9/11 attacks, the Madrid bombing and last years London attacks saw countless dead, the full extend of the ease in which devices are being produced for attacks has remained surprisingly unnoticed by public perception. The latest attacks, in which three vehicles have been used was amongst one of the warnings issued by Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when he warned that "vehicle-borne weaponry? was one of the greatest danger that the UK could face.
Even more worrying, experts indicate is the use of sleeper cells which on many occasions go unnoticed. As has been the case in this weekends incidents, in which 5 trainee doctors are being held as suspects, having passed their security checks and been provided with official approval to practice in the UK, the extend to which Al Qaeda operates continues to surprise the public as the perception on terrorist groups is redesigned by the activities of the terrorist network. The use of Doctors, businessmen, clerics, and what is termed normal citizens raises the level of concerns as public perception on what constitutes an Islamic terrorist suspect is changed, with the risk of whole communities at risk of being labeled, instead of individual sectors or individuals, as no one particular factor is now seen to differentiate between a normal citizen and a suspect. This has already led to human rights campaigners and observers warning of their concerns that the new wave of attacks could lead to a further widening of the divide between ethnic groups and the rest of society as perceptions begin to change once again from pointing the finger of blame to one sector, to erroneously pointing it to a whole community due to the wide use of sleeper cells.
Sleeper cells are groups of sleeper agents who are already in place and ready to act, as opposed to hit squads which are infiltrated into the target country shortly before an attack. Whilst the latest attack is seen as an intermediate between a sleeper cell and a ?hit squad.? Unlike other terrorist organizations across Europe Sleeper cells are trained and ready to carry out attacks at a designated time and place. The cell "sleeps" (lies dormant) inside a population until it is commanded to or decides to act. Whilst its members generally go unnoticed within the wider community, many taking up normal day to day jobs, and acting as any other member of the society, the potential dangers of a sleeper cell has been widely highlighted by security services across the world due to the problems in detecting them.
Sleeper cells have risk assessment levels ranging from Low to Urgent , its members on many occasions not knowing who the other members are. Whilst the security services in the UK have been swift in making arrest following Friday and Saturdays attack, the lack of any evidence that the individuals were being monitored prior to the attacks highlights the level of risk posed by such cells. Many going unnoticed for years before perpetrating and attack.
Whilst the war against terrorism has seen Al Qaeda significantly dented, especially at its high level command structure in Afghanistan and Iraq, due to its structure of semi-autonomous cells, al-Qaeda's size and degree of responsibility for particular attacks are difficult to establish.
The mere nature of Al Qaeda?s own ideological battle against the west has itself allowed for independently conducted attacks by supposed cells working solely on political and ideological sympathy to al-Qaeda?s ideology or methods. Al Qaeda later claiming responsibility, and credit for the attacks further widening the difficulties in uncovering plots against western interests, such as those in the UK, until the attacks have actually started.
With the battle against terrorism already heading to its sixth anniversary since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York, whilst many security services have like this weekend highlighted that warning signs existed, experts have indicated that it is ?practice that has made perfect? and the main reasons behind the loss of life being lowered due to an awareness of the new battle ground rules now set by this new form of terrorism. That, and luck, as former UK Terrorism Minister pointed out in an interview on Sky News.
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