London -
Police on Sunday night revealed their response to the Tunisia atrocity is the biggest since the 7/7 bombings, with 600 officers drafted in.
Amid rising fears of a “lone wolf” attack in Britain, it also emerged the Army is on standby to support police.
Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police’s top counter-terrorism officer, said the operation includes officers on the ground in Tunisia and hundreds at airports, looking for British witnesses of Friday’s massacre.
It is the biggest loss of British life in a single terror incident since July 7, 2005, when 52 people were killed in London.
Extra police will be deployed at Wimbledon from today including the tenth 7/7 anniversary, when it is feared fanatics could attempt a copycat attack.
Whitehall sources are concerned that some of the 350 Britons who have joined Islamic State in Syria are trying to direct an attack in the UK. A senior security official said: “They can send back a message, instructions or try to inspire something. It is a big mistake to think these people need to be on British soil in order to pose a threat to Britain.”
There are no plans to increase the terror threat level in the UK from “severe” to “critical”.
But officials said the current state of alert already means an attack is “highly likely”.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said plans put in place after January’s Charlie Hebdo attacks in France had been “refreshed”, adding that the Army would “fill in behind” police if they are “brought forward” to deal with an incident.
Mr Rowley confirmed the national policing response to the Tunisia attack is “likely to be one of the largest counter-terrorism deployments seen since July 2005”.
Daily Mail