British authorities are tracking almost 30 high-priority terrorist plots involving 200 networks and 1,600 suspects, the head of Britain’s domestic spy agency said, adding that many of those under surveillance are homegrown terrorists plotting suicide attacks and other mass-casualty bombings.
Prime Minister Tony Blair backed his spy chief’s assessment and warned that the terrorist threat facing Britain “will last a generation.”
In a speech released by MI5 Friday, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said her agency had foiled five major plots since the July 2005 transit bomb attacks in London.
Speaking to a small audience of academics in London on Thursday, Manningham-Buller said officials were “aware of numerous plots to kill people and to damage our economy.”
“What do I mean by numerous? Five? 10?” she said. “No, nearer 30 that we currently know of.”
She described those as "Priority 1" plots, saying they represent a caseload increase of 80 percent since January.
By contrast, the United States says its caseload has remained steady. FBI Director Robert Mueller said in September that the number of overall domestic terrorist investigations has remained fairly static for the past two years, after spiking immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks.
