Top spy spells out al Qaeda's deadly threat

By JASON BENNETTO in London

The head of MI5, the British intelligence service, yesterday warned that it was "only a matter of time" before al Qaeda terrorists carried out a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack on a Western city.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, the director-general of the Security Service, said that "renegade scientists" - understood to be from Pakistan - had given Islamic extremists enough information to create weapons of mass destruction, such as "dirty bombs" and that they would become more sophisticated in the future.

In her first public statement on the al Qaeda threat she told a security conference in London: "We are faced with a realistic possibility of a form of unconventional attack that could include chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN).

"It is only a matter of time before a crude version of a CBRN is launched on a Western city, and it is only a matter of time before the crude version becomes more sophisticated."

The MI5 chief also disclosed that there was concern that the dissident Irish terrorist group, the Real IRA, would carry out another bombing campaign on the British mainland.

In one of the starkest warnings about the likelihood of a terror attack by supporters of the al Qaeda terror network, Manningham-Buller, 54, said: "Al Qaeda has the ambition to carry out unconventional attacks against the West. We know that renegade scientists have co-operated with al Qaeda and provided them with some of the knowledge they need to develop these weapons."

She added that the discovery of traces of the deadly poison ricin at a flat in Wood Green, north London, demonstrated an interest in chemical weapons. But she stressed that the most likely type of attack in the West was from a conventional bomb or suicide bomber.

In her first on-the-record speech since taking over at MI5 last October, she also disclosed that a new terrorism warning centre, based at MI5 headquarters in central London, is receiving about 150 pieces of intelligence about possible terrorist threats every day.

Britain is on heightened alert against possible terrorist attacks. Security has been tightened at airports and possible terrorist targets, such as around the Houses of Parliament, and extra police officers have been placed on patrol. Police forces throughout Britain have been trained to deal with chemical, nuclear or biological attacks.

Describing al Qaeda as "the first truly global threat", she said: "If this is a war that can be won, it is not going to be won soon. The supply of potential terrorists among extreme elements is unlikely to diminish."

Talking about the impact of the September 11 attacks in America, she said: "During the summer of 2001, the UK agencies knew that attacks, probably against United States interests, were imminent, but their nature and target was unknown. What shocked us all was the scale and devastation of the attacks."

She told the Royal United Services Institute that al Qaeda's willingness to strike "tourists and members of the pubic" and to use suicide bombers made it difficult to stop. MI5 has recruited 200 new officers and dedicates about a third of its resources to counter-terrorism.

She said Britain had "unrivalled expertise" in combating terrorism.

Countering Irish Republican terrorism remains one of MI5's top priorities. Manningham-Buller said: "We should not lose sight of the possibility that paramilitary groups implacably opposed to the peace process may seek to carry out terrorist attacks here to further their aims."

To illustrate the fears of further outrages on the British mainland, she said the dissident Real IRA carried out the last terror attack in Britain, and highlighted the seizure of a 250kg bomb in the back of a van in Londonderry this week.

- INDEPENDENT