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| Core of al Qaeda is in Pakistan: British PM | | |
Agencies
London, March 22: Stating that the core of al Qaeda has shifted from Afghanistan to Pakistan, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday said that Britain was about to take the war against terror "to a new level".
Britain will release on Tuesday a new counter- terrorism strategy called Contest Two, billed as the most comprehensive approach to tackling the threat of terrorism by any government in the world.
Writing in The Observer, Brown said, "We know that there is an al Qaeda core in northern Pakistan trying to organise attacks in Britain. We know also that there are a number of networks here.
"Al Qaeda terrorists remain intent on inflicting mass casualties without warning, including through suicide bombings. They are motivated by a violent extremist ideology based on a false reading of religion and exploit modern travel and communications to spread through loose and dangerous global networks".
The new counter-terrorism strategy takes into account recent attacks on hotels in Mumbai. It will reflect intelligence agencies' opinions that the biggest threat to the UK comes from groups aligned or inspired by al Qaeda.
A spokesman said that the strategy will update the Contest strategy developed by the Home Office in 2003, which was later detailed in the Countering International Terrorism document released in 2006.
Over the last six years the strategy has been split into four strands - Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare - to try and hamper all aspects of the terror threat.
Brown said that Britain had now built the 'strongest-ever' counter-terrorism framework, with annual investment rising from pounds one billion in 2001 to pounds 3.5 billion in 2011. Such measures have resulted in foiling several plots, he said.
Brown wrote, "In 2001, al Qaeda were based in Afghanistan. While they are still active there, core al Qaeda has shifted across the border into Pakistan. More than two-thirds of the plots threatening the UK are linked to Pakistan.
"Together with the new US administration, we are developing a strategy to tackle the terrorist threat across the region, the underlying causes, the extremist madrasas and the lawless spaces in which terrorists recruit or train.
"A vital part of this is building up the security forces of Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the support of our own armed forces, so they can take on more of this responsibility for themselves, an approach I discuss frequently with Presidents Karzai and Zardari, urging closer co-operation between their countries".
The terrorism threat level, set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, has since July 2007 been "severe". This means a future terrorist attack is thought to be highly likely - but not thought to be imminent. The security service MI5 has doubled in size since 2003.
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