U.K. Anticipating ISIS Attacks


Officials in the United Kingdom are preparing for a series of attacks at the hands of ISIS.

Britain’s senior counterterrorism officer said that ISIS is proceeding to its “next natural phase.”

ISIS has moved from “a narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the [state] to something much broader,” said Mark Rowley, assistant commissioner of London’s metropolitan police. “You see a terrorist group that has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we’ve seen foiled to date.”

He was referring, among other events, to the bombing of a Metrojet last October that killed 224 people, for which ISIS claimed responsibility. He also said the U.K. needs to prepare for attacks by other terrorist organizations, citing the recent explosion within a Somali passenger plane. The jihadist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for this incident.

“In recent months we’ve seen a broadening of that, much more [sic] plans to attack Western lifestyle, and obviously the Paris attacks in November,” Rowley said.

He said ISIS attempts to gain access to northern Europe by sending sympathizers who have received military training. Additionally, he pointed out that more women and children are being identified as terror suspects.

The rate of arrest of terror suspects has jumped in the last three years compared to the three previous years, rising by 57%. Of those arrested, 77% were British nationals. Of those nationals, 14% were female and 13% were aged 20 or under.

“That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago,” said one counterterrorism official. “That is an indication of that radicalization, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh [that is, ISIS] are resonating with some individuals.”

Notably, a police press officer said that the U.K. is not preparing for a specific known threat, but to the general danger posed by militant organizations. Officials have said that an attack within the U.K. is “highly likely.”

Featured image by Ian Muttoo, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.