Those of us who lived during the time when there were various threats to security from various players in the Northern Ireland Troubles are used to various extra security precautions. We understand that some of these precautions include armed police on the streets and heightened security around places that are considered governmental and military targets. But the threat we seem to be facing from Islamic violence is more serious and potentially more indiscriminate than anything that I can recall being the case during the Troubles.

There would be of course an increase in police presence in town centres and at particular times but putting special forces under police command is different and shows the scale of the threat we face from Islamic terror. I know that ‘them’ as some special forces are referred to are always available to deal with certain threats but for the government to be so open about their deployment as police back up highlights the danger we are all in. If this story from the Sunday Express is even partly correct then it’s possible that the security agencies have received intelligence that the Islamic savages are planning to inflict their savagery on a whole host of innocent people in relatively soft targets.

The Sunday Express said:

MORE than 200 undercover SAS soldiers will be deployed in shopping centres and high streets across Britain following fresh MI5 intelligence of a terror attack planned for Christmas.

SAS commanders have cancelled all leave, sources said last night, as the regiment’s soldiers join police in the largest counter-terror surveillance operation in recent years. 

It comes as Home Office officials respond to the latest intelligence warning from the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, part of MI5, of a major attack by Islamic State extremists on mainland Britain. 

While the UK is already on a state of alert sources say they are responding to “new and urgent” threats which have emerged from captured IS militants in Iraq. 

The Special Forces soldiers will operate under police direction but will be armed and ready to provide advice on hostage situations and any chemical incidents. 

The revelation comes just days after a warning from MI6 chief Alex Younger about the “unprecedented” scale of the terrorist threat to mainland UK. 

He said: “The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty.

People in the security fields are often quite rightly loathe to comment on deployment of Special Forces or the numbers of troops involved. I wonder therefore if this journalist’s ‘source’ was one authorised to act as an information conduit by the Government for reasons unknown, possibly to let the terrorist savages know that they are being watched and what sort of force will they will be facing. After all British special forces have a fearsome reputation in anti-terror activities and some of those who’ve fought for ISIS have allegedly faced UK special forces on the battlefield.

The Sunday Express added:

Last night intelligence sources said Mr Younger’s warning signified that British security forces were aware of one or more terrorist cells actively on the move in the UK. 

The risk of a systematic attack on Britain’s communications infrastructure, designed to accompany a streetlevel attack, was “very real”, the source added. 

The force of 200 soldiers, including specialists from a “human intelligence unit”, will join teams from the Police’s Counter Terrorist Command.

Initially they will focus on major metropolitan areas such as Manchester, Birmingham and London, where police forces have requested additional support. 

My own view, one that I’ve mentioned on here before, is that if there is to be an attack by Islamic savages then of course it is likely to occur in a major metropolis, but we can’t rule out an attack elsewhere maybe on a cathedral city or a market town or a town linked to the UK military. I would most certainly advise people, not just those living or working in one of the major cities named in the Sunday Express report, but everywhere, to be on their guard for suspicious characters and suspicious activity. We can’t disregard the possibility that stated threats by terrorists to the security of major cities may only be a tactical feint to draw security resources to those areas leaving other places relatively poorly guarded.

I think no Briton anywhere in the nation can afford complacency when it comes to Islamic violence and Islamic terrorism, we are all potential targets whether we live in the far North of these Islands or in the furthest South West. All that it takes for us to be considered as fair game by Islamic terrorists is for us to be non-Muslim, nothing more or less than that. I perceive that the current situation and the current threat from Islamic terror is far, far worse than that we faced from Irish Republican terror and we should act accordingly to this threat.

Link

Original Sunday Express piece

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/742108/SAS-guard-Christmas-shoppers-ISIS-attack-MI5