MI5 map reveals extent of terrorist threat to Scotland

• MI5 have compiled a map showing the location of terrorist supporters

• Hundreds of people in the UK are under MI5 surveillance

• Security officials claim most regions in the UK appear to be under threat

Key quote

"We have never believed that the terrorism threat is confined to London - this affects the entire country and everyone should be aware of that" - CHARLES CLARKE

Story in full EXTREMIST groups have sympathisers and supporters in almost every corner of Britain including many parts of Scotland, anti-terrorist officials believe.

MI5 and Special Branch officers have drawn up a so-called extremist map of the UK showing the locations of groups and individuals suspected of involvement with militant groups, it was revealed yesterday.

The map, which summarises counter-terrorist officials' latest assessment of potential threats, includes Edinburgh, Glasgow and other Scottish cities as sites for suspected Islamic extremists.

The emergence of the map comes a week after Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, revealed that in the wake of the July bomb attacks on London, "hundreds" of people nationwide are under surveillance by police and MI5 officers on suspicion of involvement with terrorism.

The full details of the map remain a closely guarded secret, withheld even from many senior police officers. But security officials have made clear that the overall assessment is that just about every region and county of the UK is under threat.

"We have never believed that the terrorism threat is confined to London - this affects the entire country and everyone should be aware of that," said one security source.

The existence of the map was confirmed yesterday by Denis O'Connor, Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, who has recently recommended a major restructuring of English police forces.

Under those plans, many of the smaller, rural English forces will be amalgamated.

Mr O'Connor, himself a former chief constable, yesterday told a conference of police superintendents that the wide dispersal of potential terrorist threats had informed his analysis.

The map was discussed at a meeting between Mr O' Connor, Mr Clarke and senior police officers at the Home Office on Monday.

Scotland is firmly on the security map. One of the regional offices MI5 has established as part of its current expansion is in Glasgow, where officers are believed to focus on the city's large Asian population.

And a report earlier this month from Anthony Glees, the Director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, identified Dundee University as one of the UK colleges where extremist groups are actively recruiting members.

Mr O'Connor yesterday revealed that the map - which details Northern Irish and animal rights groups as well as Islamic extremists - shows that smaller towns and even rural areas are at risk.

"I'm confident that these problems are more widespread than just a few cities," Mr O'Connor told the police conference in Warwickshire.

In Scotland, only the remote areas of the Highlands and Islands and parts of the Borders are believed to be entirely free of suspected extremist links.

Contingency planning officials at the Cabinet Office are known to worry that local government and emergency service staff away from the major population centres do not do enough to prepare for the aftermath of a potential terrorist attack.

"Our greatest nightmare isn't an attack on London - London is as well prepared as you ever can be. The worry is something happening in some small town somewhere where nobody ever thought they needed to prepare," one Whitehall contingency planner recently told The Scotsman.

Mr O'Connor's decision to reveal the existence of the map has infuriated police chiefs and the security services. One security insider last night accused the inspector of "blurting out" sensitive information.