International Terrorism and the UK
Key points
- Al Qaida presents a serious and ongoing threat to the UK.
- Willing to carry out indiscriminate attacks with mass civilian casualties.
- Damaged by global campaign against terrorism, but still capable of carrying out attacks.
London Evening Standard headline, 7 July 2005. *
The UK is a prominent target for international terrorist groups at home and abroad.
Terrorists linked to or inspired by Al Qaida have carried out bomb and gun attacks on British citizens and interests in a number of countries. The UK itself has also been targeted. Several terrorist plots involving both British citizens and foreign-born residents of the UK have been averted.
The threat is constantly changing, presenting major challenges for the UK's intelligence and security agencies and the police. As of September 2007, we are tracking some 2,000 individuals, 200 terrorist networks and 30 active plots, plus a significant number of sympathisers.
The Government, Security Service and law enforcement agencies have undertaken a number of measures in response to this threat. These include legislative, strategic and organisational reforms, and are intended to provide us with the tools necessary to tackle the immediate threat as well as to address the underlying issues raised by international terrorism.
For more information, please see the pages linked below.
- The nature of the threat
- How the threat has developed
- Attacks on UK citizens and interests abroad
- Terrorist plots in the UK
- Responding to the threat
* Photo by Tamsin Bowles, used under a Creative Commons licence.
