Britain’s security chief warns al-Qaeda ‘planning mass attacks’ on West

The head of Britain’s MI5 Security Service has warned that the al-Qaeda terror group still has ambitions for a large attack. Speaking to a select group mostly from the Royal United Services Institute at his London headquarters, Andrew Parker acknowledged that the so-called Islamic State is the newest threat to the West and that self-started lone wolf plots are hard to foil. But Al-Qaeda experts, known to be led by Muhsin al Fadhli, an expert bomb maker wanted by the FBI who has a $7m price on his head, are known to have moved from Pakistan to Syria. It’s where they may be able to draw on British volunteers to conduct attacks in the UK. Their mission is entirely focused on plots against the West. Officials also said British citizens are in the ranks of al-Qaeda in Syria.

We still face more complex and ambitious plots that follow the now sadly well-established approach of al-Qaeda and its imitators: attempts to cause large scale loss of life, often by attacking transport systems or iconic targets.

Andrew Parker, MI5 director general

Thursday’s stark warning from one of the West’s most influential spymasters mirrors a growing concern among Western political leaders and their Arab allies about the threat from the cauldron of militant groups in Syria and Iraq. Lone wolf plots aimed at the police and military have surged over the last year and these have combined with the Paris killings to cause unease among world leaders.

Europe