The need for constant vigilance
Yet even as he spoke, four men were making their way on to the London transport system to turn his words to dust. The quartet of suicide bombers would commit the worst atrocity on British soil, killing 52 people.
A few days passed before it was clear who was responsible and the discovery was a shock. These were not terrorists who had arrived from overseas to attack the UK. They were homegrown fundamentalists, led by a Yorkshire-born teaching assistant of Pakistani descent, trained in bomb-making at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan.
The revelation led to a great deal of soul-searching about the apparent failure to assimilate into British culture people who were actually raised in the country. A video left by Mohammad Sidique Khan made clear that he considered loyalty to Islam to be greater than that to his country.
The destruction of al-Qaeda training camps after 9/11 reduced the bomb-making expertise available to fanatics who now more often use stolen lorries or knives to cause carnage. But the possibility of mass casualty attacks remains and the security agencies need to maintain the highest vigilance. They have to be able to gather intelligence from within Muslim communities, especially now so many young people are being radicalised over the internet. Can we be sure that enough is being done to make this happen?
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Powys County Times
28 minutes ago
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