European intelligence sources say British Daesh operatives given attack orders
Orders to launch terrorist attacks against the UK, as a follow-up to the Paris attacks, have reportedly been given to British Daesh (ISIS) operatives in Syria and Iraq.
The American news channel CNN said they have learnt this from senior European counter-terrorism officials.
The news came a day after the House of Commons voted to launch British airstrikes in Syria.
Paul Cruickshank, the terrorism analyst for CNN, said that specific intelligence, obtained by European security agencies, states that Daesh has said that British Daesh operatives in Syria and Iraq have been tasked to return to the United Kingdom to launch an attack against the country.
“These concerns have been compounded by that vote Wednesday in the British House of Commons authorising British airstrikes for the first time against ISIS in Syria,” he said, adding “they are treating this very, very seriously indeed.”
It was unclear how imminent the threat was.
Mr Cruickshank said that on the same day as the Paris attacks an associate of the British jihadi known as ‘Jihadi John’ was arrested in Istanbul.
He said that Turkish authorities had reported that Aine Lesley Davis, a British Daesh operative, was travelling to Europe to deliver orders on planned terror attacks.
More than 700 British extremists are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq and about half of them are reported to have returned to the UK.
On Wednesday 2nd December the British parliament voted to join the international coalition bombing Daesh targets in Syria.
The current UK terrorism threat is “severe” which means that an attack is highly likely. It has been at “severe” since August 2014.
On Friday 4th December the German parliament voted to join the international coalition but in a non-combat role.
They will provide Tornado jets for reconnaissance, a naval frigate and 1,200 soldiers.
