British intelligence services have foiled seven terror attacks in the past six months in the United Kingdom while earlier response to such warning had originated from al-Qaeda and the area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday.
Cameron’s remarks came as the UK government planned to recruit 1,900 new spies for the country, in the biggest increase in British security spending since the July 7/7 bombings in London in 2005 as radicalised Britons returned home from Syria with potential to carry out terror attacks.
“Our security and intelligence services have stopped something like seven attacks in the last six months, albeit attacks planned on a smaller scale...
“It was the sort of thing we were warned about but the warning that we were previously planning and responding to very much came out of Al Qaeda and that area between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Cameron told British media from the ongoing G20 summit in Turkey.
He said the plots were on a smaller scale to Paris but added the attacks in the French capital could happen anywhere.
“But whenever anything like this happens you have to go right back to the drawing board and look at what happened and how many people were involved and how many locations were involved and what more steps you need to take to try to keep yourself safe.
“We have been aware of these cells operating in Syria that are radicalising people in our own countries, potentially sending people back to carry out attacks,” Cameron said.
The UK government’s new funding will be invested in security and intelligence agencies to provide 1,900 new officers, an increase of 15 per cent, at MI5, MI6 and UK Government Communications Headquarters.
It also involved a doubling in funding for aviation security is also expected to be agreed this week.
