http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339562 Intelligence chiefs warn Blair of 'UK insurgency'
07.08.05 5.00pm By Raymond Whitaker and Francis Elliott Intelligence chiefs are warning Tony Blair that Britain faces a full-blown Islamist insurgency, sustained by thousands of young Muslim men with military training now resident in the country. The grim possibility that the two London attacks were not simply a sporadic terror campaign is being discussed at the highest levels in Whitehall, the centre of the British government. Fears of a third strike remained high this weekend, based on concrete evidence supplied by an intercepted text message and the interrogation of a terror suspect being held outside Britain, say US reports. As police and the security services work to prevent another cell murdering civilians, attention is focusing on the pool of migrants to Britain from the Horn of Africa and central Asia. Intelligence service MI5 is working to an estimate that over 10,000 young men from these regions can use light weapons and military explosives. A well-connected source said there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from "completely militarised" regions, including Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa, and Afghanistan and territories bordering the country. A very high proportion were Muslim men of military age. "Every one of them knows how to use an AK-47 [automatic rifle]," said the source. "About 10 per cent can strip and reassemble such a weapon blindfolded, and probably a similar proportion have some knowledge of how to use military explosives. That adds up to tens of thousands of men." Even though the vast majority had come to Britain to escape the lawlessness of their homelands, the source added, there remained an alarmingly large pool of trained men who could be lured into violent action here. This threat had been largely neglected while attention focused on British-born militants who had been through training camps run by al Qaeda in Afghanistan. "There has been a debate on whether we are facing an insurgency or terrorism," said the source, "and the verdict is on the side of an insurgency." Against this background, as many as 400 more armed police may be recruited in London. Concern has been expressed in the wake of the massive anti-terror operations that the police are being overstretched. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, is to recruit hundreds more officers. He warned that his armed officers were suffering from fatigue after weeks of round-the-clock duty. The Prime Minister, meanwhile, has ordered a government-wide drive to neutralise opposition within the Muslim community to his package of proposed anti-terror measures. - INDEPENDENT ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12hq3c0r6/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1123436746/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
