Bid to buy chemical weapons is alleged

Terror cells cited by British official

November 14, 2006|David Stringer, Associated Press

LONDON -- Islamic extremists, including members of Al Qaeda, have tried to acquire chemical or radiological weapons to use in attacks against Britain and other Western targets, a senior British diplomat said yesterday.

The warning followed an acknowledgment last week by Britain's domestic spy chief, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, that officials are tracking almost 30 terror plots involving 1,600 people.

Britain's Foreign Office has evidence of efforts by the terror groups to purchase chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear materials for use in attacks, the diplomat said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work.

Dhiren Barot, a British Muslim convert who was sentenced to life in prison last week for plotting to attack US financial landmarks and London hotels, had plans to build and detonate a so-called dirty bomb, which combines radioactive materials with conventional explosives, prosecutors said.

"We know the aspiration is there, we know the efforts to get the materials are there, we know the efforts to get the technology are there," the senior diplomat said.

The diplomat acknowledged that an attack with chemical or radiological weapons would most likely be mounted with crude technology and cause mass panic rather than mass casualties.

Britain's Foreign Office is concerned over the potential access terrorists could have to substances with legitimate uses that could also be used to create weapons and biological agents like smallpox or anthrax, the official said.

Manningham-Buller, head of the British domestic spy agency MI5, said last week that her agency is monitoring 200 cells actively engaged in plotting or aiding attacks in Britain and abroad.

She said agents had foiled five major plots since the July 2005 transit bomb attacks in London.

The Foreign Office official said hundreds of British Muslims were making terrorism-related trips between Britain and Pakistan each year.