Picturesque villages now terror 'hot spots'

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Porton Down

LONDON – The British intelligence service MI5 has redrawn its electronic map of Britain's "hot spots" terrorist targets – to include provincial university towns, colleges and picturesque villages close to high-security installations. Among these are the Government Communications Center in the rolling hills of the Cotswolds and Porton Down, the top-secret Chemical/Biological Defense Establishment, alongside the traditional English countryside of small towns, villages and farms, according to a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The Security Service fears such peaceful locations could serve as cover for target recognition by al-Qaida associated groups.

Already MI5 confirmed it has more than 2,000 suspects under surveillance. But they mostly are in London and other major cities. Now the fear is that terrorists have moved out into the countryside, posing as tourists or students to look for suitable targets.

"While it would be virtually impossible for them to penetrate high security establishments like GCHQ or Porton Down, to carry out a terrorist outrage in their vicinity would still cause havoc," an MI5 source said.

The warning follows the attempted attack on a shopping center restaurant in Exeter and the discovery in Bristol of a bomb factory in the city's suburbs.

Both cities have a large university population whose students include a substantial number of Muslims and members of Islamic societies.

"Our concern is that those societies are promoting al-Qaida. Until recently the country areas have been near empty when we assessed hot spots. Now we have set up counter-terrorism units across not only the West Country, but also in Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester. All have campuses which now need to be more closely watched," the source said.

The new hot spots have increased the number to more than 100 areas of the country.

The West Country – where the Ministry of Defense has a number of high-security establishments – had until now only been considered "a low risk."

But the attempt by Nicky Reilly, a 22-year-old mentally disturbed Muslim convert, to blow himself up in an Exeter restaurant has stunned counter-intelligence officers.

Another convert, Andrew Ibrahim, a 19-year-old former drug addict, was discovered in an MI5-led raid to have turned his home into a bomb-making factory in a Bristol suburb.

MI5 have now begun a hunt through provincial university files to check on the backgrounds of students who have contacts with Islamic organizations.

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