February 26, 2007	Monday	Safar 8, 1428

LONDON, Feb 25: A leaked government document which also warns that the number of British-based Islamic terrorists plotting suicide attacks against "soft" targets in the UK is far greater than the Security Services had previously believed.

According to a report published in the Sunday Telegraph the plotters in the UK could number more than 2,000.

Under the heading "International Terrorism in the UK", the document which The Sunday Telegraph claims it has seen -- states: "The scale of Al Qaeda's ambitions towards attacking the UK and the number of UK extremists prepared to participate in attacks are even greater than we had previously judged."

"With violence in Afghanistan intensifying, and therefore receiving greater media attention, the country may well become more attractive as a venue for foreigners wishing to fulfil their Jihad ambitions", the document states.

Dr Jonathan Eyal, the director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute, has been quoted by the ST saying that the Al Qaeda revival was due to the West's inability to kill or capture Osama bin Laden and that wars in Afghanistan and Iraq made matters worse.

"This document clearly demonstrates a marked shift from the mood of western government only a year or two ago," he said. "It is a clear admission that the organisation is re-emerging and the reasons are that none of Al Qaeda's top leaders have been killed or captured."

The government document warns that terrorist "attack planning" against Britain will increase in 2007, and adds: "We still believe that AQ [Al Qaeda] will continue to seek opportunities for mass casualty attacks against soft targets and key infrastructure. These attacks are likely to involve the use of suicide operatives."

The document, which has been circulated across Whitehall to MI5, Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorist Command, the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Defence, also reveals that Al Qaeda has grown into a worldwide organisation with a foothold in virtually every Muslim country in North Africa, the Middle East and central Asia.

Eliza Manningham-Buller, the director general of MI5, warned recently that there were more than 1,600 "identified individuals" actively engaged in plotting terrorist attacks. There were 200 known networks involved in at least 30 terrorist plots. It is thought that the number of British citizens involved in plots could be well in excess of 2,000.

MI5 believes that soft targets, such as the transport system and economic targets such as the City of London and Canary Wharf, are most at risk.

The ST quoted a senior political source saying that the picture painted by the document was "particularly bleak and unlikely to improve for several years".

He said: "The Security Services have constantly warned that the task of countering Islamist terrorism is a daunting one. There will be more attacks in Britain."