MI5 Director warns of 'thousands' of Islamists in the UK

Since 2000, we have seen serious attempts at major acts of terrorism in this

country typically once or twice a year. That feels to me, for the moment, unlikely to change.

While that tempo seems reasonably even, the ground we have to cover has increased as the threat has become more diversified.

The ability of Al Qaida to launch the centrally directed large scale attacks of the last decade has been degraded, though not removed. We have seen the threat shift more to increasing numbers of smaller-scale attacks and a growing proportion of groups and individuals taking it upon themselves to commit acts of terrorism. It remains the case that there are several thousand Islamist extremists here who see the British people as a legitimate target.