The UK’s terror threat level has been raised to ‘critical’ in the wake of the attack in Manchester, meaning that another incident could be imminent
In August 2014, then Home Secretary, Theresa May announced the terror threat was being raised to severe in the wake of warnings of the deadly threat posed by British jihadists radicalised fighting for Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq.
It has remained at this level ever since, but despite terror attacks being highly likely there had been no significant attacks on UK soil for more than a decade until the attack at Westminster in March of this year.
Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme in the wake of the attack at Parliament, Dominic Grieve, Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, said that the security services have foiled 12 attacks in the past 18 months.
He said: “We’ve been extraordinarily fortunate. It’s really been a miracle that it [a terrorist attack] hasn’t happened sooner.”
However, after the attack in Manchester that has so far left 22 dead and many more injured, Theresa May has now raised the terror threat in the UK to its highest possible level.
Britain was plunged into a fresh state of heightened alert and the terror threat was raised to critical on June 30 2007 after a blazing car loaded with propane canisters was driven into a crowded Glasgow Airport.
The attack came just one day after two bombs were discovered in cars in London’s Park Lane and Piccadilly – among the capital’s busiest tourist spots.
Police quickly arrested Islamist extremist Bilal Abdullah, a man behind the two attempted attacks. And on July 4 2007 the threat level was lowered to severe, where it stood for two years before being lowered again on July 20 2009 to substantial.
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