Islamic State and al-Qaeda 'both still seeking to stage attacks in UK'

Islamic State and al-Qaeda both still seeking to stage attacks in Britain, Suella Braverman to warn in updated counter-terror strategy

• Home Secretary is due to unveil an update to the CONTEST counter-terror plans

Suella Braverman is set to warn the threat of Islamist terror continues to be the ‘most severe’ in the UK with Islamic State and al-Qaeda both still seeking to plan attacks on British soil.

The Home Secretary is due to unveil an update to CONTEST, the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, tomorrow.

According to The Times, Ms Braverman will outline how Islamist terrorism still represents three-quarters of MI5’s workload.

She is also expected to warn that terrorism is ‘becoming increasingly unpredictable, making cases harder to detect and investigate’.

CONTEST was last updated in 2018, when Theresa May was prime minister, in the wake of the major terror attacks in London and Manchester.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is due to unveil an update to CONTEST, the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, tomorrow

CONTEST was last updated in 2018, when Theresa May was prime minister, in the wake of the London Bridge attack (pictured)

Last year, counter-terror police foiled eight ‘late-stage’ terror plots with a number of them described by Scotland Yard as ‘close calls’ and ‘goal line saves’.

The Metropolitan Police revealed earlier this year they are handling 800 live terrorism-plot investigations.

Ms Braverman is also expected to use the CONTEST update to warn about the threat of hostile countries, including Russia, using terrorism to sow division in the UK.

She will say that ‘terrorist narratives are also exploited by hostile actors such as Russia, which is seeking to promote divisive and polarising narratives in the West’, and warn that ‘this is likely to increase in the future’, The Times reported.

A Whitehall source told the newspaper: ‘This is the first [report] of its kind for five years and is a comprehensive update for the UK’s response to terrorism.

‘It’s about how the fragmentation of Islamic State and al-Qaeda is now posing a very different threat to our people, while state actors like Russia and Iran will increasingly try to capitalise on terrorism here in the UK.

‘We can’t be complacent, the terrorists are morphing and we have to keep our vigilance up.’

Source: Read Full Article