London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Seven 'late-stage' terrorist attacks foiled during pandemic – police

Seven 'late-stage' terrorist attacks foiled during pandemic – police

The UK's Counter-Terrorism Policing (CTP) unit has said it foiled seven "late-stage" attacks since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The report comes after the country recently saw two attacks within weeks of each other.
In a press release on Thursday, the CTP claimed to have diverted a total of 32 “late-stage” planned terrorism incidents since March 2017, seven of which took place after the start of the pandemic. The cases were most commonly linked with Islamic extremism (18), extreme right-wing terrorism (12), and left/anarchist/single issue terrorism (2), according to the agency's statistics.

Senior National Coordinator for CTP Dean Haydon acknowledged that the UK had recently “suffered two terror attacks in quick succession”, and warned of an ongoing “sustained and high tempo threat” heading into the “festive period”. He also urged the public to do their part lest the nation's children become radicalized.

“We are very concerned that children are becoming an increasing proportion of our arrests,” he added.

Though the overall arrest rate has actually declined given the Covid lockdowns that kept most of the British public indoors, 25 children were taken into custody since March 2020 in connection with terrorism offenses. That figure nevertheless represents the largest number of kids jailed in any 12-month period, according to the CTP report.

It's not clear if this is due to more anti-terrorism investigations being conducted against under-18s or if that group has actually become more of a threat. However, the boss of MI5 acknowledged earlier this year that agents were now investigating teens as young as 13.

Beyond the seven incidents mentioned in the Thursday report as having been thwarted by police, the UK suffered two fatal terrorist attacks in recent months. In October, Tory MP David Amess was stabbed to death by a man who had reportedly been plotting to kill a lawmaker for years and considered himself affiliated with the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group.

Last month, a man hired a taxi and blew himself up using an improvised explosive device outside Liverpool Women's Hospital. The taxi driver managed to escape the vehicle with minor injuries.

Following the Liverpool attack, the government raised its terrorism threat level to “Severe.” Such a designation means an attack is “highly likely,” the CTP reminded the public, urging them not to “let their guard drop” over the holidays.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×