MI5: There are numerous plots to kill

Friday, 10, Nov 2006 12:00

Britain is facing a serious threat of terrorism, the head of MI5 has warned.

"We are aware of numerous plots to kill people and to damage our economy," Eliza Manningham-Buller told academics yesterday.

"What do I mean by numerous? Five? Ten? No, nearer thirty – that we know of."

Many of the plots were linked to al-Qaida, who Dame Eliza said trained "British foot soldiers" on an "extensive and growing scale".

Insisting it was not her intention to stir up fear, she said a future attack could involve chemical and nuclear weapons.

"More and more people are moving from passive sympathy towards active terrorism through being radicalised or indoctrinated," she argued.

And British suicide bombers were motivated by what they perceived as anti-Muslim UK foreign policy "in particular the UK's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan".

"I wish life were like [TV drama] Spooks, where everything is (a) knowable, and (b) soluble by six people," she added.