Fears of 'parallel terror group' By Gordon Corera BBC security correspondent
A massive security operation is under way at Britain's airports despite several arrests of suspects overnight. This is an operation that will have been ongoing for some time. Security sources are saying that this was a group that was being watched for some period, perhaps even months. But in the last five days new intelligence came in which set off alarm bells inside MI5 Headquarters in Thames House and led the security services to believe they had to move fast. They believed this was a group who were actively developing the capability to carry out their intentions, and not just talk. '9/11 level' This means it is likely the police and security services believed they were putting together material to carry out this attack. The attack which was disrupted has been described as imminent but was not thought to have been planned for the day of the raids but possibly within a week or two. It would have targeted US airlines carrying passengers from London to the US. They would have been blown up using explosives carried on as hand luggage by suicide bombers. The explosive was thought to be some kind of liquid. It is not clear exactly how many flights were being targeted but it could have been up to 10 which would make this one of the most significant terrorist plots to have been seen and which could have killed people on a scale comparable to 9/11. US link One of the concerns and one of the reasons we've seen the threat level moved up to its highest - critical - is the fear that maybe this isn't all they know. Intelligence is often fragmentary and partial, so the fear perhaps is that there is another, parallel group or other individuals who are also going to carry out similar attacks. What if they remain at large and what if they decide to move because they've seen another group disrupted and arrested? That's why a lot of security measures are being taken. We know that overnight the US Department of Homeland Security raised its threat level on flights to the UK and put in place tighter security. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4778889.stm [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- 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/
