Britain is vulnerable to terrorist attack from the sea because no single body is responsible for protecting the UK's coast, MPs have warned. Just nine Royal Navy ships along with a "motley collection" of police and coastguard boats guard a shoreline more than 7,000 miles long.
The Commons defence committee suggests developing a "deterrent capability" to ward off sea-borne attacks. The Ministry of Defence has insisted clear procedures are in place. Concerns over the UK's preparations for dealing with a maritime terrorist threat were raised by the committee.
Excerpted
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8054491.stm
Pakistan troops fight Taleban on streets
May 20, 2009
PESHAWAR: Pakistan's military said yesterday troops were locked in fierce street battles with Taleban fighters in the northwest, where a rights group accused both sides of killing civilians. Military officials said government forces were advancing on several fronts towards Mingora, the Taliban-held main town in the Swat valley-once a scenic tourist hotspot but ripped apart by a two-year battle to enforce sharia law.
The blistering offensive against Islamist militants, who are said to threaten the sovereignty of the nuclear-armed nation, has concentrated increasingly on the valley in what the government calls a mission to "eliminate" militants. "We had to launch a military operation because these people challenged the writ of the government. They declared democracy, parliament, the constitution and judiciary as un-Islamic," Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
Excerpted
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NDQwMTA4NDQ0
Baghdad - Al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq relies on funding from Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, according to confessions allegedly made by its reputed leader, Omar al-Baghdadi following his arrest last month, the Iraqi military said on Monday.
Excerpted
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3327987471
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood officials face 'terror camp' charges
18 May 2009
Cairo - Thirteen officials from Egypt's banned opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, have been formally charged with terrorism and money laundering in Cairo. According to the Arab daily, al-Hayat, the leaders have been accused of running "secret training camps called 'jihadist camps' where they trained groups of students in armed combat".
The most important member of the group, Osama Nasr, has been accused of "having supported an illegal group that uses terrorism to achieve its aims and publishes brochures and and books to spread its ideological message, recycling money obtained from terrorism".
Prosecutors claim that the accused hid their training camps behind the guise of so called "sports camps" and young recruits were taught how to use arms before being sent to "war zones" to show their solidarity for besieged Gazans their and opposition to Israel's recent military offensive.
Excerpted
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3327713044
While British POLS seem to have the IQ of toadstools, I'm thinking the Royal MArines and the boys from Hereford (SAS) have been brainstorming this with MI5 and MI6 for a very long time. I'll bet they've got operations in motion to stop any such attack.