UK faces threat from home grown suicide operatives: WikiLeaks

H S Rao

London, Feb 4 (PTI) Britain faces terror threats fromhome-grown suicide bombers who are not on the radar ofintelligence agencies, and the danger is not expected to abate"anytime soon," counter-intelligence officials in the UK havewarned, according to documents released by WikiLeaks.

The bombers, who pose a "unique" threat to Britain,are from a generation of ''home-grown terrorists'' trained tobecome "suicide operatives," British intelligence agency MI6has warned.

These British-born radicals will leave the authorities"hard pressed" to prevent an attack, according to a topcounter terrorism official at the Secret Intelligence Service.

The problem of home-grown terrorists is officiallyexpected to blight Britain for years to come and "will not goaway anytime soon," the Daily Telegraph reported quoting thedocuments.

The warning was sounded in a private briefing from asenior MI6 official to visiting American Congressmen amidgrowing US fears over the radicalisation of young BritishMuslims.

The leaked documents also highlight Americangovernment concerns that the British intelligence services arestruggling to combat these extremists because of budget cutsand a wave of lawsuits from terror suspects.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, announcedfurther cuts to the counter-terrorism budget earlier thisweek.

Details of the warnings are contained in diplomaticdispatches from the cache of tens of thousands of US embassycables leaked to WikiLeaks and passed to The Daily Telegraph.

They were published today after the government''sindependent reviewer of anti-terror laws warned that humanrights rulings had made the UK a "safe haven" for suspectedforeign terrorists.

The WikiLeaks files suggest Britain faces threats fromboth foreign and domestic extremists.

They detail mounting American concern over theinability of British security forces to apprehend terroristsintent on launching attacks on the West.

Yesterday, Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer ofcounter-terrorism legislation, said there was now a"relatively low legal threshold" for a suspect to avoiddeportation in domestic courts.

The European Court of Human Rights has rejected theGovernment''s argument that the risk of a deportee beingill-treated in his home country should be balanced against thethreat they pose to Britain''s national security if they wereto remain in the UK.

"The effect is to make the UK a safe haven for someindividuals whose determination is to damage the UK and itscitizens," he said.