Scots cities 'must wake up' to terror threat

SCOTTISH cities have to accept that they are a likely target for al-Qaeda bombers, a leading terrorism expert warned last night.

Source: The Scotsman
Excerpts:

Nigel Churton, vice-chairman of the Control Risks Group, and former military intelligence and kipnap expert, said Edinburgh's financial sector, its status as the seat of government and its "picture postcard" image all made the capital an ideal location for terrorists to strike.

Control Risks Group is a worldwide business security firm, staffed largely by former military and government personnel, which advises businesses on all types of threat.

He said all major cities have to consider themselves potential targets, particularly places such as Glasgow and others south of the border, like Manchester, with big commercial centres.

He warned that the war against al-Qaeda would take at least a dozen years to win; that the bombers were now more isolated and harder to track down than they had been and that there were at least 100 al-Qaeda terrorists ready to strike in the UK, with another 100 ready to take their places.

He said: "Al-Qaeda desperately wants any attack, wherever it is, to generate the maximum amount of casualties. It has got to the stage where, to get the headlines, it has to be worse than what has gone before.

"They are not like the IRA or ETA, who have a political aim. They want to get the US and its allies out of the Middle East, they want Saudi Arabia to return to being a land of milk and honey and they want to destroy Israel. There is nothing to negotiate with them on."

He added: "This has not just been going on since 9/11 in 2001; this has been going on since 1993, when they launched their first attack on the World Trade Centre. This has been going on for 12 years and the general expectation is that it will take another dozen years to sort out."

He said: "They have not just hit capital cities. Look at Washington and New York, Bali and Jakarta, Mombassa and Nairobi. It is not unreasonable to assume they will look outside London, and you can't afford to be complacent in any city.

"If you have targets like a financial centre, and picture postcard targets like in Edinburgh, you are a potential target."

(Emphasis mine - H.H.)