MI5 head warns of continuing terror threat
The head of MI5 warned today that the war on terror could be a long one and suggested that a biological, chemical or nuclear terrorist attack on a Western city is ‘only a matter of time.’
Eliza Manningham-Buller stated: ‘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.’
She said the threat from international terrorism would be around for a long time and that the war on terrorism ‘is not going to be won soon.’
In her first public address since she became director-general in October last year, Ms Manningham-Buller declared that al-Qaeda still posed a threat to the West and added: ‘The supply of potential terrorists among extreme elements is unlikely to diminish.
‘Breaking the link between terrorism and religious ideology is difficult.’
Speaking at a conference at the Royal United Services Institute in London, she warned that ‘renegade scientists’ had given terror groups information to create banned weapons, but added that conventional bombs and suicide bombers remained the preferred weapons of such organisations.
