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Sunday, December 20, 2009

"Mumbai-Style Attack Is Coming To London"


In an official statement, Scotland Yard warned businesses in London to expect a Mumbai-style attack on the city.

In a briefing in the City of London 12 days ago, a senior detective from SO15, the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Mumbai is coming to London.”

The detective said companies should anticipate a shooting and hostage-taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”.

The warning — the bluntest issued by police — has underlined an assessment that a terrorist cell may be preparing an attack on London early next year. {...}

Officials now report an increase in “intelligence chatter” — communications captured by electronic eavesdropping agencies. One senior security adviser said the police warnings had intensified and become much more specific in the past fortnight.

“Before, there has been speculation. Now we are getting what appears to be a definite plot to carry out a firearms attack on London,” he said.


Back when the Mumbai attacks occurred just over a year ago, a number of observers ( including myself) speculated that it was the forerunner of a new type of jihad attack targeting urban environments in relatively open cities.

From a jihadi viewpoint, London is an ideal environment for this kind of attack. The civilian population is largely disarmed and defenseless, the available police are already stretched thin because of the large urban environment and would be outgunned by automatic weapons and the SAS who normally deal with terrorism in London would be hard pressed to deal with multiple attacks planned and carried out by a trained team. The city is a target rich environment with large hotels,stores and Jewish schools, synagogues and community centers to target, and those targets could easily be pre-programmed into GPS units as they were in Mumbai.

And finally, just as in Mumbai, London has a large Muslim population, a number of whom can be expected to be jihad sympathizers prepared to gather intel,provide safe houses for the jihadis and perhaps even participate in the attacks themselves.

If it happens, the point of origination will likely prove to be a jihad friendly country like Pakistan, perhaps utilizing British Muslims radicalized and recruited at home who went back to Pakistan to be trained and equipped.

Considering Britain's attitude toward a country on the front lines of jihad like Israel, the British government's consistent support of organizations like Hamas and their general willingness to bend over backwards for Islamists, the fact that their own security services now predict a murderous attack they admittedly would have trouble stopping is ironic.

As author Melanie Phillips pointed out in her superb book "Londonistan", the British authorities had a tacit agreement with the Islamists that they would look the other way at minor incidents and proselytizing for jihad at places like the Finsbury Park Mosque in exchange for relative immunity from large scale terrorist attacks.

In retrospect, Britain's appeasement of jihad and Islamism appears not to have worked out so well.

While I would advise this of peace loving British subjects in general, I would particularly advise Jewish institutions in London and other large British cities to step up their security considerably, even if it means obtaining arms clandestinely and learning how to use them. A few private security guards poorly armed at best are simply not adequate insurance anymore, and some jobs it's simply better not to hire out.



2 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:20 PM

    I think that you misunderstand the disarming of the British citizen.

    The MANDATORY sentence for possessing a firearm is FIVE years inside. Not too long ago, a perfectly law abiding upstanding citizen got that because he had forgotten that he had one, and hadn't handed it in when they took handguns off every lawful owner in the mid 1990s. In an argument about payment for a lock up storage, the owner of the lock up sent all the stored items to an auctioneer. When they discovered the gun the owner was arrested, tried, and sentenced. No defence was possible, it is a strict liability offence.

    The only firearm that is legal for the British citizen now is a shotgun. But you'd have trouble explaining it away in the centre of London, as there aren't two many game birds or rabbits living in the built up areas! At best carrying one there would get your licence revoked. Hand the gun in straight away, no compensation. Air rifles and crossbows remain legal for the moment, though that will probably alter the moment some feral yoof uses one to attach a child.

    Now that owning guns is criminal, only criminals have guns. As for routinely arming the Police, no thanks! They kill enough innocent citizens when firearms are restricted to just a few officers. It would be a disaster if they all had them.

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  2. Hello Yokel!

    Nice to have you drop by.

    If it were me, I'd prefer having the security of knowing I could protect myself and my family in an emergency over being charged with the 'crime' of owning the means to protect myself. To quote an American saying, I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.But then, you know we Yanks are notorious rule breakers at the base.

    If shotguns are legal, the Winchester 'defender' 12 gauge or similar with the pistol grip to reduce recoil is an excellent defensive weapon in close quarters,although no match for an AK-47 out in the open. I can't imagine why one would bother to 'exlain it' if it's in your home and only comes out on the range, in some quiet shooting area out in the country or when you have unwelcome guests.

    As for the British police, after seeing vids of them running like rats from howling Muslim mobs in the heart of London, I agree with you that it's probably not a good idea to arm most of them.

    As I said, some jobs are better not hired out.

    Sten gun types are relatively easy to build ( they made them in the Warsaw Ghetto and in Israel during the 1948 war when arms were embargoed and hard to come by).Do your research.

    A cross bow is likewise a much more lethal weapon than people suppose in a pinch, because (a) it's noiseless, giving one the element of surprise (b) the newer types, like the Barnett Predator or Bar-panzer or the newer Excalibur types fire steel bolts that can penetrate the wall of the average wood frame house much faster and easier than the older traditional weapons, especially with the cranking device. The rate of fire once you've practiced up is almost equivalent to a good bolt action rifle and the range is pretty much what you're likely to need if you're under attack in your home.

    Happy Christmas to you and yours, Yokel.

    Rob

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