Police expect Mumbai-style terror attack on City of London

[Smits]

Scotland Yard has warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the capital.

In a briefing in the City of London 12 days ago, a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Mumbai is coming to London.”

The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”.

The warning — the bluntest issued by police — has underlined an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year.

It was issued by the Met through its network of “security forums”, which provide business leaders, local government and the emergency services with counter-terrorism advice.

During a “commando-style” raid by 10 gunmen on hotels and cafes in Mumbai in November 2008, 174 people were killed and more than 300 injured over three days.

Officials now report an increase in “intelligence chatter” — communications captured by electronic eavesdropping agencies. One senior security adviser said the police warnings had intensified and become much more specific in the past fortnight.

“Before, there has been speculation. Now we are getting what appears to be a definite plot to carry out a firearms attack on London,” he said.

Earlier this year, police, military and intelligence services held an exercise in Kent to see whether they could defeat a commando raid in London by terrorists.

“The exercise brought out to those taking part that the capability doesn’t exist to deal with that situation should it arise,” said a military source.

Security sources said concerns had been raised by “chatter” on a prominent jihadist website two weeks ago.

One contributor suggested fighters could use automatic weapons to strike places such as nightclubs, sporting venues and Jewish centres.

In an online discussion hosted on December 2, another contributor invited suggestions for carrying out “guerrilla warfare” and proposed “a group of mujaheddin raid police stations and fire at them”.

Another said: “Make sure that all those at the location are of age, that there are no children and so on. Insist on the locations and times where no Muslims or children are to be expected.

“If machine guns are available, and explosive and expertise for [explosives] are not available, this is a good way ... The [Mumbai] operation is the ideal scenario for operations you are talking about.”

A third contributor said targets should be “chosen in a studied manner”.

He added: “In general, targeting economic joints and intelligence centres if possible has priority over police stations.”

The Met is understood to be struggling to draw up effective plans to deal with the challenge of mass shootings followed by a prolonged siege with terrorists prepared to kill their hostages and themselves.

In Mumbai, many victims were killed in the first half hour of the attack. The Met is concerned that it will be much longer before the SAS, which has traditionally dealt with terrorist sieges in London, would arrive from its base at Regent’s Park barracks.

Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Commons counter-terrorism sub-committee, said the threat was “very real”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6962867.ece


Article is 3 days old. Quite alarming and raises many concerns if you ask me, i havn;t heard anything else, just seen this.

[-:Undertaker:-]

One will come, but more fool us (or more so our politicians) for allowing open borders in which islamic extremists can easily get into the United Kingdom via either our own floppy immigration controls (which don't exist) or through the free-movement around the European Union scheme. We don't have any idea who or how many nutters are in this country and entering this country as we speak now.

Our country couldn't handle a Mumbai-style attack anyway, could you imagine our police having a shootout with crazy nutcase terrorists? I certainly can't.

[Smits]

Our country couldn't handle a Mumbai-style attack anyway, could you imagine our police having a shootout with crazy nutcase terrorists? I certainly can't.

Nor do i want to.


I really don't think we can prevent these kind of things forever, it's bound to happen sometime. It's just too easy.

[Oleh]

Hopefully it wont happen when im in london for new year, be scary if it did

[Ardemax]

Why don't we just fight back, nuke I say!

[Smits]

Why don't we just fight back, nuke I say!

No. Not clever at all.

[Gullable]

nah its too risky for them if the goverment know and everything, i dont live in london so... is it buisnesses or w.e?

[Seatherny]

By that news article, it looks like they havent even picked a target or how to attack it so it seems like its in very early stages :S
And which idiots discusses those things in a forum :S to me, it seems like some idiots trying to be clever.

And even if it was true, I can't see them carrying it out now, knowing the police are onto them.

[alexxxxx]

i love it how undertaker seems to think the european union has some sort of effect on the ability of terrorists to attack the city of london. i thought you'd be happy about them attacking the city anyway because that's where the bankers have stolen all your money. :rolleyes: you think people who are extremists make it clear to the border agencies when they come in? or is the colour of their skin that gives it away?

the police will be more prepared for this than the Indians. we've had terrorist attacks before by the IRA.

[-:Undertaker:-]

i love it how undertaker seems to think the european union has some sort of effect on the ability of terrorists to attack the city of london. i thought you'd be happy about them attacking the city anyway because that's where the bankers have stolen all your money. :rolleyes: you think people who are extremists make it clear to the border agencies when they come in? or is the colour of their skin that gives it away?

the police will be more prepared for this than the Indians. we've had terrorist attacks before by the IRA.

Of course it does, when you don't have control of your own borders then you dont know what kind of nutters are entering the country, hence why France throws them all to the coast and waits for us to accept them because nobody else in Europe actually wants any of these people. We have no idea what these people are like, who they are or what their intentions are.

On the banks, no actually I don't although you certainly would because you support a federal europe but deny that the people should have any say in its creation, well heres a thought - nobody actually wants this european project. On the actual point, the cycle of capitalism needs bust to boom again, and the same thing will happen again, and again and again and would of happened (and needed to happen) under any government, whether it was Labour, the Conservatives or even UKIP. I don't blame the government for the capitalist cycle, I blame nobody. What I do blame the government for is the way it has handled the economy for the past decade or so and the way it handled the downturn.

On extremists, would you be more likely to suspect a young Pakistani man or a 80 year old British woman?

I could even turn it around, if the threat we were facing right now was the IRA, would you suspect a 80 year old nigerian woman or a young irishman?

Common sense before PC politics.

[Nixt]

Old news -rep ;l

No but seriously last time I was aware (it was like a year ago since I left left the army mind) there were 48 (I think) active terrorist threats in the United Kingdom, the majority of which targeted London and the rest another major city in the UK. Terrorist threat to our county is considerable, prolonged and inevitable - nothing new. The media are just making a big deal out of something that has been officially acknowledged.



Our country couldn't handle a Mumbai-style attack anyway, could you imagine our police having a shootout with crazy nutcase terrorists? I certainly can't.

There are trained departments of the police and other such security forces that can and have dealt with similar situations extremely well. The likelihood is that there would be no "shoot-out" anyway. UK policy is to control and contain the incident, a strike would only take place where risk to hostages or civilians was considerable and impending. In this instance it would be planned and calculated carefully and executed almost impeccably. Casualties would be almost certain, but we would most certainly be more prepared than the authorities in Mumbai.

[Seatherny]

On extremists, would you be more likely to suspect a young Pakistani man or a 80 year old British woman?

I could even turn it around, if the threat we were facing right now was the IRA, would you suspect a 80 year old nigerian woman or a young irishman?

Common sense before PC politics.

But what you are saying is don't search the elderly at airports :S But you want increased security.

Hey! That 80 year old British woman has a huge knife in her handbag but lets not search her because she is 80.

Er no, they should be allowed to search whoever they want in an airport.

[Nixt]

On extremists, would you be more likely to suspect a young Pakistani man or a 80 year old British woman?

I could even turn it around, if the threat we were facing right now was the IRA, would you suspect a 80 year old nigerian woman or a young irishman?

Common sense before PC politics.

It's not PC politics, it's common sense! I normally appreciate the points you make, but quite frankly this is ridiculous. Obviously members of any form security service will suspect people on the basis of stereotypical views more than they would suspect an 80 year old woman, nevertheless if suspicions are aroused they should most certainly be allowed to search an 80 year old woman. Anyone can be a terrorist. Anyone can be influenced to break the law or do bad things. If terrorists saw that we were lax in security when it came to older British people, they would inevitably exploit that hole. You are at the other end of the extreme now, PC politics is ridiculous, but compromising British security in an effort to discredit it is even more foolish.

[Agnostic Bear]

Why don't we just fight back, nuke I say!

Nuke the lawless area, yes. That would solve 90% of the problems in a matter of seconds.

[kk.]

One will come, but more fool us (or more so our politicians) for allowing open borders in which islamic extremists can easily get into the United Kingdom via either our own floppy immigration controls (which don't exist) or through the free-movement around the European Union scheme. We don't have any idea who or how many nutters are in this country and entering this country as we speak now.

Our country couldn't handle a Mumbai-style attack anyway, could you imagine our police having a shootout with crazy nutcase terrorists? I certainly can't.

you really are sticking to your UKIP view points. Id almost think youd been brainwashed by a member lol. brought up british islamic extremists could cause this attack, are you going to blame them? i mean, theyre british, their nationality is british, so therefore, britain should be concerned as a country for terror. especially if this british person went on to attack a different country.

youve basically just stereotyped the whole of the immigrated public that are in this country as terrorists. many people provide skills and jobs for britain, the vast majority actually. very, VERY, few are actually extremists.


Nuke the lawless area, yes. That would solve 90% of the problems in a matter of seconds.
but would also cause nuclear warfare, which would end pretty much everything. The allies with these countries, or people that disagree with the action would react, which is why the UN exists.

[-:Undertaker:-]

But what you are saying is don't search the elderly at airports :S But you want increased security.

Hey! That 80 year old British woman has a huge knife in her handbag but lets not search her because she is 80.

Er no, they should be allowed to search whoever they want in an airport.

The thing is, and the thing which you are ignoring is that 80 year olds don't tend to carry a huge knife/bomb in their handbag.


It's not PC politics, it's common sense! I normally appreciate the points you make, but quite frankly this is ridiculous. Obviously members of any form security service will suspect people on the basis of stereotypical views more than they would suspect an 80 year old woman, nevertheless if suspicions are aroused they should most certainly be allowed to search an 80 year old woman. Anyone can be a terrorist. Anyone can be influenced to break the law or do bad things. If terrorists saw that we were lax in security when it came to older British people, they would inevitably exploit that hole. You are at the other end of the extreme now, PC politics is ridiculous, but compromising British security in an effort to discredit it is even more foolish.

If suspicions are aroused then by all means search them, if not then do not search them - simple as that.

On anyone, yes anyone can be a terrorist, but the fact of the matter is that islamic terrorists tend to be young in their twenties and are usually (from family history) from Pakistan and other Arab nations.


you really are sticking to your UKIP view points. Id almost think youd been brainwashed by a member lol. brought up british islamic extremists could cause this attack, are you going to blame them? i mean, theyre british, their nationality is british, so therefore, britain should be concerned as a country for terror. especially if this british person went on to attack a different country.

youve basically just stereotyped the whole of the immigrated public that are in this country as terrorists. many people provide skills and jobs for britain, the vast majority actually. very, VERY, few are actually extremists.

Brainwashed because I believe in a viewpoint thats different to yours? - I don't stick to party politics, I used to be very much supportive of the Conservative Party but now I am not, and if I did not agree with UKIP over many things I would not support them anymore, just like i'm pretty sure UKIP support devolution, whereas I do not.

On sterotyped, I have not sterotyped anybody at all. This is where the discussion always goes off the rails because it then goes onto sterotypes and eventually racism - all I want is control over our own borders to protect the people of this country from islamic extremism which is festering itself in this country. One cannot preach for safety in airports yet continue to allow any tom, richard or harry into the country.

[Alkaz]

This country takes too much ****, what happened when Maggie Thatcher sent the IRA into the Iraq/Pakistan (Cant remember) embassy in London when it was taken over by terrorists, it showed the world that we wasn't scared and that we would kill. We're too scared to do anything like that now and its disgusting. If anything like that happens in London, its the approach we should take.

[-:Undertaker:-]

This country takes too much ****, what happened when Maggie Thatcher sent the IRA into the Iraq/Pakistan (Cant remember) embassy in London when it was taken over by terrorists, it showed the world that we wasn't scared and that we would kill. We're too scared to do anything like that now and its disgusting. If anything like that happens in London, its the approach we should take.

Exactly, and thats exactly why I do not think this country could handle a terrorist attack now.

Could anyone seriously imagine this government sending the navy to the Falklands to liberate it from Argentine forces? - this government couldn't run a sweet shop let alone fight a war (as proved in Iraq and Afghanistan when soldiers were sent in with poor equipment and no equipment at times).

[Alkaz]

I think Anne Widecombe would be a great PM. She would certainly sort this country out.

[kk.]

Just so you know, what i meant by brainwashed was a joke. Its like in the rage against the machine thread where people say that we've been manipulated into liking mainstream music, or thinking an iPhone is the best phone out atm.