Navy Steps Up Al-Qa'eda Anti-Terror Patrols (UK)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 11-27-2002 | Michael Smith

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Navy steps up al-Qa'eda anti-terror patrols

By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 26/11/2002)

The Royal Navy is stepping up its patrols off the coast of Britain and in the Mediterranean to protect shipping against attacks by al-Qa'eda terrorists, the First Sea Lord said yesterday.

Adml Sir Alan West said he wanted to see more heavy machineguns put on board vessels to allow the Navy to defend shipping against attacks from small boats packed with explosives.

The stepping up of patrols follows the broadcasting by al-Jazeera, the Arab television network, of a tape of Osama bin Laden naming Britain as among a number of countries that were al-Qa'eda targets.

Concerns over the potential for such attacks has further increased since last month's suicide attack by a small boat on a French tanker off Yemen and the heightened security alerts in Britain.

Until recently, MI5 had considered an attack on Britain by dissident members of the IRA as more likely than one by al-Qa'eda but in the past month the situation has become more threatening.

Earlier this month, the Home Office withdrew a warning of a "dirty bomb" attack and replaced it with a more generalised warning. But days later Tony Blair placed the country on heightened alert for a possible terrorist attack.

The Prime Minister called on the public to be alert and vigilant adding that "at the moment hardly a day goes by without some new piece of intelligence coming via our security services about a threat to UK interests". One of the persistent fears since the September 11 attacks is that terrorists could smuggle a "dirty bomb" into London or New York on board a ship.

Sir Alan said that while there was no specific intelligence about terrorist attacks there were "consistent strands" warning about such threats.

The Navy has been practising defending ships against "swarm" attacks by small boats since the attack on the USS Cole off Yemen in October 2000 in which 17 American sailors died, Sir Alan said.

It also moved two anti-terrorist patrol boats from Northern Ireland to Gibraltar after the Moroccan authorities, working with British intelligence services, thwarted an attempt by al-Qa'eda terrorists to attack British ships.

Sir Alan disclosed that the destroyer Manchester had been returned from the Mediterranean to assist in providing cover for the firemen's strike which was also having an effect on other deployments and training.