Prime Minister David Cameron claimed this afternoon the extreme Islamist group ISIS are planning to attack Britain. Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons today, Cameron warned that the threat is now bigger than jihadis returning from terror training in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Latest figures suggest that some 400 Britons are fighting for ISIS in Syria, but the number may be far greater if you also factor in Iraq. The group has made sweeping gains in Iraq in recent days, taking control of the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, and is now advancing in Baghdad.
Mr Cameron said: “The estimates given so far is around 400 people from the UK have taken part in fighting with Isis but those numbers are much more based around what is happening in Syria, rather than what is happening in Iraq where we have considerably less information.”
Reflecting the significance of the threat ISIS poses to Britain, the Prime Minister then confirmed that he has met with senior security officials to make sure the UK is prepared.
“What I can say to you is together with the Home Secretary and others I have chaired a series of meetings in Whitehall to make sure our intelligence, security and policing services are focused as sharply as they can onto this problem.”
Mr Cameron then confirmed the significance of the threat, and said it may be worse than we currently think.
“The estimates are now this is a greater threat to the UK than the return of foreign jihadis or fighters from Afghanistan or Pakistan region, and we need to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep our country safe.”
ISIS have released a series of videos recently, showing themselves committing atrocities in the areas they have captured. They are currently fighting simultaneously in Syria, where they are trying to overthrow the government for Bashar al- Assad, and Iraq, where they want to oust the democratically elected Baghdad government.