London/Antalya : British intelligence services have foiled seven terror attacks in the past six months in the UK while earlier response to such warning had originated from al-Qaeda and the area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Prime Minister David Cameron said today.
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 GCHQ. It also involved a doubling in funding for aviation security is also expected to be agreed this week.
The increase in staffing for the three intelligence agencies was made public ahead of the publication of the UK government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, which is expected next week. The intelligence agencies already have about 12,700 staff. The extra funding for aviation security is expected to be used to pay for more experts to assess airport safety in countries with large numbers of British visitors, among other measures. The UK currently spends about 9 million pounds a year on this issue. A total of 129 people, including one Briton, were killed in Friday’s attacks on bars and restaurants, a concert hall and the Stade de France. The so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIL) claimed it was behind the killings.
