UK terrorism threat level raised to 'severe'
Published 8
hours ago
Home Secretary Priti Patel said people will see
"more visible policing across the country"
The UK's terrorism threat level has been upgraded from
"substantial" to "severe".
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-54799377
The move
means security chiefs believe that an attack is highly likely but there is no
specific intelligence of an imminent incident.
The move
follows Monday night's shooting in Vienna in which four people died.
Last week,
three others died in a knife attack in Nice, France, and a teacher was murdered
in Paris last month.
Home
Secretary Priti Patel said the British people should be "alert but not
alarmed".
"This
is a precautionary measure following the horrific events of the last week in
France and last night in Austria and is not based on a specific threat."
She added that
significant steps had already been taken to amend powers and strengthen the
tools for dealing with developing terrorist threats.
"As
I've said before, we face a real and serious threat in the UK from terrorism.
"I
would ask the public to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity
to the police," she said.
Assessments
of threat levels are taken by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC), part
of MI5, which makes its recommendations independently from the government.
The five
levels of threat set by the JTAC are:
Low - an
attack is highly unlikely
Moderate -
an attack is possible but not likely
Substantial
- an attack is likely
Severe - an
attack is highly likely
Critical -
an attack is highly likely in the near future
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'A sense of
inevitability'
Analysis
box by Dominic Casciani, home affairs correspondent
The
decision to raise the threat level back to "severe" has a certain
sense of inevitability about it.
While the
threat level may feel vague to the public, what lies behind it is an assessment
of available intelligence on known suspects targeting the UK and a wider
analysis of how international events will play into their intentions.
Whenever
there is an attack that leads to loss of life, there are plotters who will
regard that as a success to emulate.
They will
be encouraged to go further themselves. That is why a string of events
elsewhere - such as France and Austria at the moment - carry weight in the UK's
planning and preparedness.
In public,
there are likely to be subtle changes to visible policing - particularly around
public locations thought to be at risk of attack.
Additional
advice may be given confidentially to some organisations that could be
vulnerable.
And behind
the scenes it will mean that counter-terrorism investigators will be taking a
very close look at some of their highest current priorities and asking whether
these individuals have been emboldened to turn talk into violence.
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grey line
Head of UK
counter-terrorism policing Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu echoed the home
secretary's comments, saying there was no intelligence to link any of the
attacks in France or Austria to the UK but said his officers were working with
international partners, and providing assistance.
He urged
communities to "stand together and reject those who seek to sow division
and hatred between us".
"We
need communities and families to bring to our attention anyone they perceive
may be vulnerable, a danger or escalating towards terrorism," he said.
He said the
public could expect to see additional police officers deployed to certain
places and locations over the coming days.
Police
would also work closely with local businesses, faith groups and community
groups to provide reassurance and seek their support, he added.
Labour's
shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the decision to change the
threat level should not cause "undue alarm" but showed the importance
of people continuing to be vigilant.
The UK's
terrorism threat level was raised to the highest rating, "critical",
in the days following the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017.
It last
reached that level again briefly in September that year, after a bomb partially
exploded on a Tube train at Parsons Green.
The threat
level remained at the second highest rating, "severe", until last
November when it was downgraded to "substantial", where it has stayed
until now.
BBC
security correspondent Frank Gardner said given events in Austria and France,
it would have been "remiss" of the government not to raise the threat
level.
He said the
JTAC, which brings together analysts from across transport, health,
intelligence and the military, were constantly analysing the ongoing threat to
UK citizens anywhere in the world, and will have looked at what has happened in
Vienna and at all the postings from al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group,
encouraging people to carry out attacks.
"There's
a lot of anger at the moment in many parts of Muslim communities over the
cartoons [of the Prophet Muhammad] and that's being exploited by extremists who
are encouraging people to carry out attacks, hence the raising to severe."
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