British authorities say they have thwarted dozens of attacks in the past four years.
It involved at least 31 conspiracies that were at an “advanced stage”, said Ken McCallum of security service MI5 in the run-up to the commemoration of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
According to the security chief, it was mainly a threat from Islam, but right-wing extremists are also increasingly planning attacks. He emphasized to the BBC that extremists have not been sitting still during the corona crisis.
“Even during the pandemic of the past two years, we have had to disrupt six conspiracies that were at an advanced stage.”
The security services have not been able to stop all attacks in recent years. For example, in 2017, 22 people were killed when a Muslim extremist blew himself up after an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.
That same year, eight people were killed when extremists deliberately hit pedestrians on London Bridge in the capital and then started stabbing people.