LONDON – Britain’s intelligence chief today disclosed that the UK’ssecurity forces had thwarted at least 12 terrorist attacks directed againstthe country since the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed strike on the BritishParliament building in March last year.
During an address to a meeting of European intelligence chiefs in Berlintoday, MI5 director-general Andrew Parker also warned that ISIS continuesto aspire to commit “devastating” attacks in Europe after losing territoryin Syria and Iraq.
“Daesh (ISIS) still aspires to direct devastating and more complex attacksdespite territorial losses and threats from Al Qaeda and other Islamistterror groups have not gone away,” he said in his speech titled ‘HybridThreats’.
He said: “Whilst Daesh has now lost its false caliphate in its strongholdsin Syria and Iraq, tackling the group as a movement will require sustainedinternational focus for years to come. As I speak today, they are seekingto regroup, and the threat seems likely to persist.
“Islamic State have been blamed for (attacks) that’s upset a lot of AlQaeda affiliated groups who want to get back into high-level, sophisticatedattacks like they did with the 9/11 attacks, because they see Islamic Stategetting the media limelight.” In December last year, Parker had revealedthat nine terrorist attacks had been prevented by the UK’s securityservices and police since 52-year-old Khalid Masood drove a car intopedestrians before launching a knife attack after crashing into the side ofthe Parliament, killing five people on March 22 last year. Today’s updatedtotal of 12 brings the total number of disrupted attacks in the UK to 25since 2013.
Against the backdrop of Brexit negotiations, the MI5 chief stressed thatEuropean intelligence agencies must rely on “shared cooperation more thanever”.
“I am confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of thestrength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of oursocieties and the values of we share with our European partners,” he said.
“European intelligence cooperation today is simply unrecognisable to whatit looked like five years ago,” he said, highlighting that there have beenas many as 45 terror attacks across Europe since 2016.
Parker also took the opportunity to make a scathing attack on Russia forits “deliberate and targeted malign activity”.
In his first public comments since the deadly nerve agent attack in thetown of Salisbury on a former Russian spy and his daughter, Parker saidthat Moscow is using its spies and military to carry out “flagrant breachesof international rules”.
He accused the Kremlin of “pursuing an agenda through aggressive andpernicious acts by its military and intelligence services”, adding thatRussia risks becoming a “more isolated pariah” if it continues to act inthe way it has.
Addressing the campaign of disinformation that followed the attack onSergei and Yulia Skripal in March, Parker said there is a need “to shine alight through the fog of lies, half-truths and obfuscation that pours outof their propaganda machine”.
While the Russian government has denied any involvement in the attackearlier this year, it has been the subject of condemnation and diplomaticsanctions from the West.