Two in three Islam-related terror attacks were carried out by Britons

Published on Sunday 4 July 2010 15:31

MORE than two-thirds of Islamism-related terrorism offences or suicide attacks in the UK over the last ten years were perpetrated by British citizens, according to a report published today.

Some 69 per cent of such incidents from 1999 to 2009 were carried out by Britons, the study by think-tank The Centre for Social Cohesion found.

Almost half (46 per cent) were committed by individuals of a south central Asian ancestry, while the second and third most frequent regions of origin were eastern Africa (16 per cent) and northern Africa (13 per cent).

Some 48 per cent of the 127 Islamism-related terrorism offences or suicide attacks, collectively referred to as Islamism related offences (IROs), were committed by individuals living in London, the report found.

The next two most common regions were the West Midlands (13 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (9 per cent).

Nearly a third of individuals who committed IROs (32 per cent) had a direct link to one or more proscribed organisations, the two most prevalent being al-Muhajiroun (15 per cent) and al-Qaeda (14.5 per cent), the report found.

Seven of the UK's eight major bomb plot cells contained individual members with direct links to al-Qaeda - only the failed London bombers of 21 July 2005 lacked undisputed evidence of direct contact with any proscribed organisation.

Just under a third (31 per cent) of all individuals who committed IROs had attended one or more terrorist training camps, the most common location being Pakistan. Seven of the eight major bomb plot cells contained members who had attended terrorist training camps.

More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of IROs were committed by those aged below 30.

The most common status was unemployed (35 per cent) - but 42 per cent were perpetrated by individuals either in employment (32 per cent) or full-time education (10 per cent).

The report concludes: "Al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-inspired terrorism remains the biggest threat to the UK's national security. The Security Service estimates that over 2,000 people in the UK pose a terrorist threat and in March 2005 it was estimated that there were up to 200 al Qaida-trained operatives in the UK.

"The British-based threat does not only affect the UK: a number of British Muslims have been convicted in foreign courts or have fought for (or trained with) terrorist or extremist Islamist groups abroad."

The report comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of the 7 July bombings in London, in which 52 people were killed.The suicide bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Hasib Hussain and Germaine Lindsay detonated rucksack devices packed with explosives on three Tube trains and a bus.

Relatives have called for an independent inquiry after three men accused of helping the four bombers were cleared last year.

The attack was followed by the terror attack on Glasgow Airport in the summer of 2007.

Former NHS doctor Bilal Abdulla will serve at least 32 years in prison. Abdulla, who worked as a junior doctor at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, and his accomplice, Indian PhD engineering student Kafeel Ahmed, launched a desperate suicide attack on Glasgow Airport in a Jeep loaded with gas cylinders and petrol.

Ahmed later died as a result of injuries sustained in the airport attack.