British Terror Threat Still 'Critical'

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/13/world/main1890342.shtml



British Terror Threat Still 'Critical'
Official Calls Terror 'Chronic' And 'Severe,' Says 4 Previous Plots Foiled

LONDON, Aug. 13, 2006

(CBS/AP) British police questioned 22 suspects Sunday in the alleged plot to bomb trans-Atlantic jetliners in mid-air, and the country's top law-and-order official warned that the risk of another attack still remained high.

Home Secretary John Reid said the threat "is a chronic one and it is a severe one."

Reid repeated the assertion, made before by police, that Britain has foiled four major terrorist plots since the July 7, 2005, London transit bombings, and said police were conducting about 24 anti-terrorist investigations.


British Airways aircraft comes into land at London's Heathrow Airport, as it flies over an urban estate near the airport, Saturday Aug. 12, 2006. (AP Photo)


Reid told the British Broadcasting Corp. the four terror plots would have resulted in high death tolls based on the information he received.