British terrorists heading home on a mission to kill
A BRITISH jihadist fighting in Syria has claimed that insurgents will return to the UK on the orders of the fanatical Al Qaeda-inspired terrorist leader behind the wave of atrocities in Iraq.
Anti-terror investigators in London are examining the claim in a tweet by a man using the name Abu Rashash Britani that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, head of ISIS, is targeting the UK with homegrown fighters.
Baghdadi, who has a £6million bounty on his head, is considered the world’s most dangerous terrorist leader.
The tweet from Abu Rashash Britani declared: ‘I my brother intend to go back to #UK under the order of our Ameer Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi #foreignpolicy.’
It is the first time it has been suggested that Baghdadi is preparing to send his battle-hardened and highly trained ISIS fighters back to the UK.
The revelation came as David Cameron warned that Britain cannot afford to ignore the chaos in Iraq and Syria because of the risk that British jihadis will bring their murderous tactics back to the UK.
He told MPs: ‘I disagree with those people who think this is nothing to do with us and if they want to have some sort of extreme Islamist regime in the middle of Iraq, that won’t affect us. It will.
‘The people in that regime – as well as trying to take territory – are also planning to attack us here at home in the United Kingdom. So the right answer is to be longterm, hard-headed, patient and intelligent with the interventions that we make.’
Mr Cameron, who described the estimated 400 British fighters in the region as ‘the most serious threat to Britain’s security that there is today’, later chaired a meeting of Britain’s National Security Council. In a statement, No 10 said British military intervention was ‘not on the table’. Sources said the security services are focusing on the threat posed by returning foreign fighters. In other developments: Downing Street said 14 Britons have had their passports seized to stop them going to Syria to fight over the past year.
A senior Tory MP called for Tony Blair to be impeached for misleading the Commons in the run-up to the 2003 invasion. Father of the House Sir Peter Tapsell said ancient Parliamentary powers should be revived to hold Mr Blair ‘to account’.
MI5 and Scotland Yard are monitoring the use of social media by British jihadists in Syria.
Baghdadi, known as ‘The Ghost’ because he is rarely seen, is said to control between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters, many of them thought to be foreign.
He is called the ‘new Osama Bin Laden’ but even Al Qaeda have distanced itself from his bloodstained methods and goals.
The identity of Abu Rashash Britani is not known, but he is thought to be linked to a group of eight Britons from London and Portsmouth operating as part of a unit called the British Kataa’ib, meaning British Brigades.
Britons in Syria are encouraging others in the UK to follow them by offering a rough travel guide for would-be jihadists.
In a series of postings, they advise people to travel light and bring a smartphone for internet access, but to leave religious books at home to avoid suspicion when travelling through airports.
They highlight the need for visas for those heading to Turkey, the main ‘gateway’ border to Syria, and even detail the type of plug adaptors new recruits will need to charge their electronic devices.
One Briton, who goes by the alias Abu Abdullah al-Brittani, told would-be militants on the Ask.fm website to delete ‘jihad pics’ from their phones in case they are searched. He added: ‘Be careful is my advice. I would delete them kinda things’.