U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2005 - United Kingdom

London suffered terrorist attacks on July 7 and July 21. The July 7 attacks were carried out by four suicide bombers who detonated their bombs on the London public transportation system, three in the Underground and one on a city bus. Fifty-six people, including the terrorists, were killed in the July 7 attacks and more than 700 were injured. Three of the bombers were UK-born citizens of Pakistani descent; the other was a British national of Jamaican descent and a convert to Islam. A video of one of the bombers, Mohammed Siddique Khan, was released through the media after the attacks, and in that video Khan attributed his act of violence to anger over UK foreign policy.

A separate group of terrorists attempted to detonate bombs in the London Underground on July 21, but those bombs failed to detonate completely and did not cause any casualties. UK authorities have arrested individuals in connection with this attack; the suspected bombers are East and West African in origin.

Government authorities reported that at least two attempted attacks have been thwarted since July. In August, Prime Minister Blair outlined plans to strengthen counterterrorism efforts in the United Kingdom by augmenting government authority to deport and exclude foreigners engaged in extolling extremism and justifying terrorism, increasing powers to arrest and detain suspects, and proscribing groups and individuals glorifying or inciting terrorism. Prime Minister Blair met with senior leaders of the Muslim community in Britain for advice on how to curb radicalization and to solicit support from Muslim communities to do the same.

The United Kingdom has played a leadership role in working to develop an understanding of radicalization and in seeking to identify the structural and motivational factors that may drive the terrorist recruitment process. The British government worked with its European counterparts to stimulate discussion on radicalization and has sought to work with its domestic Muslim populations to identify how this process unfolds and how communities and governments can prevent the spread and appeal of extremist ideology.

The additional measures that the Prime Minister detailed in his August address to the nation have yet to be passed into law, although a draft Terror Bill is making its way through Parliament. The government engaged in a series of bilateral negotiations to allow the return of foreigners to their home countries, with a specific understanding that those individuals will not be subject to human rights abuses.

The July attacks in London pointed to a new phenomena in global terrorism, that of homegrown terrorism in Europe. While the United Kingdom has experienced homegrown terrorism in the past linked to Northern Ireland, the July 7 bombings were the first successful attacks carried out by UK-born Islamic extremists. It is not yet clear if the July 7 and 21 terrorists had any ties to al-Qaida or other international terrorist organizations. The July 7 terrorists traveled out of the United Kingdom to Pakistan prior to the attacks. The Khan video suggests that at a minimum Khan affiliated himself with the goals of al-Qaida.

The United Kingdom simultaneously held the presidency of the European Union and the chairmanship of the G8. The United Kingdom used its leadership of both entities to advance intra-EU cooperation on counterterrorism measures and policy. During the UK presidency of the EU, the EU agreed on a counterterrorism strategy and a review of the problem of radicalization and terrorist recruitment within Europe.

The United States and the United Kingdom work closely together within the United Nations and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to deny terrorists and their supporters access to the international financial system. The United Kingdom has strong legal provisions for freezing assets related to terrorist financing, including Terrorism (UN Measures) Order 2001, the al-Qaida and Taliban (United Nations Measures) Order 2001, and the Antiterrorism Crime and Security Act 2001.

When Prime Minister Blair gave his August 5 address listing his intentions to strengthen UK counterterrorism measures, he said he would seek to designate Hizb-ut Tahir (HT), an international group with operations in Britain. This group was not proscribed, however. Individuals, including prominent Muslim leaders within the United Kingdom, argued that the group, while endorsing violent action elsewhere in the world, does not manifest itself in the same manner in the United Kingdom. On other matters of proscription, the United States and the United Kingdom had regular consultations.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, Republican and Loyalist paramilitary organizations increasingly shifted their activity from political actions to criminal racketeering. This shift began with the 1994 ceasefires of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), and the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), and has accelerated further since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.

Two relatively small "dissident" Republican paramilitaries, the Continuity Irish Republican Army (CIRA) and the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA), continue to advocate the use of armed violence to support their goal of uniting the northern and southern parts of Ireland. Loyalist paramilitaries also have a presence in the Republic of Ireland. In July, the Provisional IRA announced that it was ending its armed campaign and would pursue its goals through exclusively peaceful means. In September, the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning announced that the Provisional IRA had put all of its weapons "beyond use."