Terrorism threat to UK is clear, active - Blair

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) The threat of further attacks on Britain is ''clear and active'', Prime Minister Tony Blair said today, just days before the first anniversary of the July seven suicide bombings in London.

''I believe at the moment we have a clear and active threat.

I want our police and our security services focused on dealing with that threat,'' Blair told a committee of parliamentarians.

The prime minister said the police and security services had foiled plots since last year's attacks on London's transport network and were aware of groups planning similar attacks.

Britain on Friday will hold commemorative ceremonies one year on from the bombings that killed 52 people and injured 700 when four young British Muslims blew themselves up on underground trains and a bus.

''I think the most important thing is that the security services and the police have carried out their tasks ... in an exemplary way and have actually protected us against further attacks,'' Blair said.

''There's no doubt there are people, there are groups we believe that are engaged in planning this type of activity,'' he added when asked if he believed there were more British people planning attacks on the country.

Blair again rejected calls for a public inquiry into the London bombings, saying police needed to focus their resources on the current threat.

Britain's police and security services have faced criticism since the July seven attacks. Police shot and killed an innocent man last year after they wrongly suspected he was a suicide bomber.

Another man was shot and wounded in an anti-terrorism raid on a house in London last month. No evidence of criminal activity was found in the house and police have said the raid was a mistake.

REUTERS SRS DS1601