UK facing highest terror threat since 1970s IRA plots

(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Britain faces a level of terror threat not seen since the IRA bombings of the 1970s, according to a new watchdog.

Max Hill, the independent reviewer of terrorism laws, told the Sunday Telegraph that terrorists were targeting UK cities.

He credited the effectiveness of the intelligence services in limiting the level of threat to Britain.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told ITV's Peston on Sunday that defending the UK was her "main priority".

Ms Rudd said she agreed with Mr Hill's assessment of the current terror threat facing the UK, adding that ensuring a country is well-defended is "the most important job a home secretary does".

Mr Hill also pledged to review anti-terror measures over concerns about any infringements of freedom.

Mr Hill, who successfully prosecuted the failed 21/7 bombers and the killers of Damilola Taylor, said the ISIS was planning "indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilians of whatever race or colour" in UK cities, close to the scale of Provisional IRA attacks of the 1970s.

Speaking in his first interview since being appointed to his watchdog role, he said there were distinctions in the "mindset" of the IRA 40 years ago and those under ISIS now.

But he added: "I think the intensity and the potential frequency of serious plot planning... represents an enormous ongoing risk that none of us can ignore.

"So I think that there is undoubtedly significant ongoing risk which is at least as great as the threat to London in the 1970s when the IRA were active on the mainland."

He highlighted the numbers of British people travelling to Iraq and Syria to fight for ISIS.

"It's an enormous concern that large numbers - we know this means at least hundreds of British citizens who have left this country in order to fight - are now returning or may be about to return".



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