Al Qaeda 'could be plotting a chemical attack in Britain'
Al Qaeda could be plotting a chemical weapons attack in Britain, a senior anti-terrorist official warned yesterday.
The Foreign Office source revealed that supporters of Osama Bin Laden are trying to obtain the technology to carry out a nuclear or biological attack in the West.
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But the anonymous official warned that terrorists are even closer to acquiring the materials for a chemical attack, which could mimic the deadly Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo underground railway.
The timing of the briefing will add to suspicion that it was designed to bolster the Government's case for further security legislation.
The latest warning echoes MI5 director general Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller's remarks last week that future terror attacks in Britain could involve weapons of mass destruction.
It comes as the Government is preparing to make security a key theme of the Queen's Speech tomorrow, with no fewer than five Home Office bills expected.
Asked if she had any doubt that Al Qaeda wanted to obtain the materials to carry out a nuclear attack on the West, the official said: 'No doubt at all'.
She said that terrorists were seeking the means to mount a range of attacks using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear devices.
'We know that the aspiration is there, we know attempts to gather materials are there, we know that attempts to gather technologies are there,' she said.
Intelligence chiefs and counter-terrorism officials are concerned that illegal networks of weapons smugglers operating out of Pakistan could deliver the technology for a catastrophic terror attack in the U.S. or Britain.
The official said that British intelligence officials are working closely with their Pakistani counterparts to tackle the problem.
'It is not that we are pointing the finger. We are extending a hand and saying that we have a joint problem,' she said.
Foreign Office officials have also been monitoring jihadist websites.
Government officials last night stressed that there is no evidence of an imminent chemical or nuclear attack.
But it is widely believed in Westminster that making Home Affairs the centre of Labour's legislative programme is a last-ditch effort by Tony Blair to give Home Secretary John Reid a chance of proving himself as a viable alternative to Gordon Brown in the Labour leadership race.
The Foreign Office official insisted that the briefing with journalists was organ-ised three weeks ago.
Shadow Homeland Security Minister Patrick Mercer questioned the way the anti-terrorist message has been disseminated anonymously by officials - rather than publicly by a senior minister.
He said: 'I very much welcome that we are being briefed on this material.
'But wouldn't it be very much better if rather than having this sort of thing leaked out in a piecemeal fashion, we had one authoritative voice in the shape of a minister of cabinet rank telling us what's what.'
The Tories have long advocated handing a single counter-terrorism minister the responsibility for co-ordinating security efforts across Government.
The job is currently held by a junior Home Office minister who also has responsibility for the police.
