British jihadists plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth: report

I24 NEWS – British police and intelligence services are working to thwart a plot by British jihadists who plan to assassinate Queen Elizabeth at an event to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, according to The Mail on Sunday.

According to the report, police and MI5 received intelligence suggesting that Islamic State commanders from Syria were behind the plot to kill the monarch next weekend at a Victory in Japan (VJ) Day anniversary ceremony.

A “specific threat was made against the Queen”, sources told the paper.

The jihadis planning the attack intend on causing a high number of casualties by using deadly pressure cooker bombs as thousands of Britons are expected to line the streets around Whitehall and Westminster Abbey in central London for the parade, according to the report.

A similar device was used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which killed three people and injured more than 260.

Senior officials from the Royal Protection branch of Scotland Yard as well as The Home Office have been informed of the threat, The Mail on Sunday reported.

Last month, Britain marked 10 years since four suicide bombers attacked the London transport network on July 7, 2005, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds more.

In the past decade, successive governments have strengthened security powers and improved the way the emergency services respond to attacks.

But they are still struggling to address the problem of radicalization exposed by the bombings, which were carried out not by foreign fighters but by four young men from Yorkshire in northern England who were inspired by Al-Qaeda.

Hundreds of British young people are now flocking to join the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, raising fears that they might return to attack their homeland.