Britain said yesterday it had thwarted "at least" four major terror attacks since the July 7 bombings last year, while up to 24 separate threats were under investigation, as police probed the foiled bid to explode aircraft en route to the US.
Police had swooped on key suspects on Thursday over an alleged plot to wreak mass murder by smuggling liquids in hand baggage onto US-bound planes to assemble into bombs.
Questioned about how many terrorist attacks had been stopped since the London bombings in July last year, Home Secretary John Reid told the BBC News 24 television channel on yesterday: "I can tell you that at least four major plots have been thwarted."
Reid said that the plots would have led to significant loss of life and indicated that up to two dozen terror investigations were currently being pursued, confirming reports that police were hunting that number of terror cells in Britain.
"I'm not going to confirm an exact number but I wouldn't deny that that would indicate the number of major conspiracies that we are trying to look at," Reid said.
Regarding Thursday's terror raids, a Metropolitan Police spokewoman said yesterday that enquiries were ongoing and searches continuing while 23 suspects remained in custody.
"We think we have the main suspects in this particular plot," Reid added.
"I have to be honest and say on the basis of what we know, there could be others out there ... so the threat of a terrorist attack in the UK is still very substantial," he said.
Britain on Thursday upped its security alert to "critical."
Meanwhile, the global investigation into last week's alleged plot has turned increasingly to Pakistan and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, amid fears that worse plans could be afoot.
The Times yesterday said one of the suspects under arrest could be "Al-Qaeda's leader" in Britain. However, the newspaper did not name the suspect.
also see stories:
Terrorism experts cast doubt on al-Qaeda tie to arrests
Britons and others cast skeptical eyes on terror plot claims
Foiled UK terror plot casts cloud on airline industry
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2