Top British cop says terror attack inevitable

LONDON - Britain faces a threat from suicide bombers, with a terror attack almost inevitable, says Britain's top police officer.

"The suicide threat is there and we have to take account of that," Sir John Stevens, who runs London's police force, said yesterday.

Stevens also said al Qaeda was recruiting in Britain and that a real threat existed of chemical and biological attacks.

"We are at the highest level of alert, I think, that we have ever been," he said.

Since the September 11 atrocities in the United States, London has been considered a prime target.

There has never been a suicide bomb attack in Britain but the threat took "a quantum leap", Stevens said, after a series of deadly attacks this year on targets stretching from Saudi Arabia to Morocco to Indonesia.

"That quantum leap is all about people prepared to give their lives in relation to their causes," Stevens added.

While there was no specific intelligence to point to an imminent attack, Stevens said it was only a matter of time and that he would not hesitate to put troops on the capital's streets if necessary.

"The Prime Minister [Tony Blair] says an attack's inevitable and ... I think that's probably right."

In May, large concrete blocks were put around parliamentary buildings to protect them from suicide car bombers and in February, tanks and armoured cars were deployed around London's Heathrow Airport after intelligence pointed to a threatened missile attack.

In a sign of how the risk has escalated, Stevens said anti-terror officers were working up to three times harder than during the height of a bloody 30-year campaign waged against Britain by Irish extremists.

A recent spate of attacks on US and British troops in Iraq had unleashed "no effect here yet" - but it was his job to prevent any "overspill" in London's minority communities.

Anti-terror police have arrested more than 300 people since the September 11 attacks. Deadly ricin poison has been found in a London flat and supporters of Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network is blamed for the World Trade Centre suicide bombings, have been jailed for raising funds for terrorism.

Stevens said there was evidence that al Qaeda had already forged links with established extremist groups to facilitate new campaigns, recruiting "foot soldiers" to die for the cause, religious zealots to fire them up and skilled operators who bring financial expertise or forge documents.

Terror toll

The past year

October 12 - Bali, Indonesia (bombs); 202 dead.

November 28 - Mombasa, Kenya (bombs); 15 dead.

May 12 - Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (suicide bombers); 35 dead.

May 16 - Casablanca, Morocco (suicide bombers); 44 dead.

June 7 - Kabul, Afghanistan (suicide bomber); 4 dead.

August 5 - Jakarta, Indonesia (suicide bombers); 10 dead.

August 7 - Jordanian Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq (truck bomb); 17 dead.

August 19 - UN headquarters, Baghdad (truck bomb); 22 dead.

Does not include Israeli/Palestinian attacks

- REUTERS