Police Chief Says

al-Qaeda plot against London 'inevitable'

AFP, London
It is "inevitable" that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network will try to stage an attack in London, the British capital's new police chief said in an interview published yesterday.

Sir Ian Blair's warning in the Daily Telegraph newspaper echoed similar concerns expressed a year ago by Sir John Stevens, his predecessor as Metropolitan Police commissioner.

"It is inevitable that terrorists connected with al-Qaeda will attempt to carry out an atrocity in London," said Blair, 51, who took over as Britain's most senior police officer on Tuesday.

"I know that because they have. It is difficult to calculate whether it is inevitable that they will get through."