LONDON, 16 August 2005 — The UK Department of Transport yesterday ordered a tightening of security around Britain’s road-tanker fleet and road haulage networks, as the fear of a third wave of bomb attacks against targets in London grew.
Already petrol tankers and vehicles carrying dangerous goods entering the Square Mile in the City of London are being closely monitored by police checks and CCTV and drivers are subject to security vetting. The police and the Road Haulage Association of Britain are also giving tanker drivers relevant training. Tanker owners are also installing equipment which would immobilize the tankers in the event of hijacking.
Police in Britain have foiled terrorist plots using lorry bombs in the past. One plot to bomb nightclubs in Soho in London’s West End was disrupted last year.
The measures come amid fears that Al-Qaeda-linked groups are planning attacks on US and British targets involving hijacked tankers and crashing them into petrol stations to cause maximum casualties and destruction. This on the fourth anniversary of the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on Sept. 11.
The measure according to security sources is more of a precaution, as both Washington and London strongly played down any specific threat involving attacks using oil tankers.
The threat is not new. Last year captured Al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed revealed that the terror group had plans to use oil tankers as possible vehicle-borne explosive devices in an effort to cause mass casualties. These threats have appeared in US Department of Homeland Security and UK Intelligence Reports in the past.
UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke yesterday however, without referring to the possible tanker plot, reiterated his warning that Londoners must remain vigilant and that the possibility of more terrorist attacks is real. “We remain worried. As the Metropolitan Police Commissioner (Sir Ian Blair) has warned, the threat remains real. If there are any linkages which would increase the risk of such attacks, we must identify them. It would be ridiculous to say that we have eliminated all the risks. They remain,” he stressed yesterday.
Scotland Yard in London could not confirm whether they were hunting a terror cell planning to explode tankers into targets in the City. Scotland Yard has repeatedly warned since the 7/7 and 21/7 bombings in London that there was a strong possibility of further attacks as there were most likely more terrorist cells present in the UK. They also warned that the terrorists might change their tactics away from the tube stations and buses, and target softer options including nightclubs.
According to The Times, sources at US Department of Homeland Security revealed that the plan was to strike in the next month in Britain, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.
“Al-Qaeda leaders plan to employ various types of fuel trucks as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices in an effort to cause mass casualties. The stated goal is the collapse of the US economy,” said The Times quoting the Report.
The Department for Homeland Security said the Times article was un-corroborated and the source unreliable. A spokesperson stressed, “At this time the Department for Homeland Security does not have any specific credible information that suggests a terrorist attack in the US is imminent.” Security sources in London stressed that the threat, if any, was more likely aimed at US targets than London.
