British MI5 believes some 400,000 citizens in the UK are “sympathetic to violent world jihad” – 1,200 of them activists engaged in terror – BBC
This is part of the “very sinister” intelligence picture described by Peter Clarke, head of the London Metropolitan police’s anti-terror branch as Britain approaches the anniversary Friday of the July 7 London bombings that left 52 dead. Clarke reported ongoing attempts by al-Qaeda to penetrate the British MI5 security service. Three further attacks have since been disrupted, 70 terror investigations are underway and 60 people await trial for terrorist-related offenses. MI5 is publicly advertising for new personnel to expand from 2,600 officers to an eventual 3,500 to cope with the intensified level of counter-terror probes in the past year.
They are still trying to reconstruct events leading up to the July 7 attacks, pursuing many lines of inquiry in the UK and overseas. At least two of the bombers visited Pakistan and are suspected of meeting with al Qaeda operatives.