Prevented, Failed or Aborted Attacks
These are attacks which could have constituted a threat to life had they worked or been large enough. Does not include attacks that were merely at a talking stage and were not actually in operation.
- 1985: Police found 10 grenades, seven petrol bombs and two detonators at the home of former Group Development Director for the British National Party Tony Lecomber after he was injured by a nailbomb that he was carrying to the offices of the Workers' Revolutionary Party. Convicted under the Explosive Substances Act 1883.
- 1993 23 October: In Reading, Berkshire, an IRA bomb exploded at a signal post near the railway station, some hours after 5 lb (2 kg) of Semtex was found in the toilets of the station. The resulting closure of the railway line and evacuation of the station caused travel chaos for several hours, but no-one was injured.
- 2000 1 June: Real IRA suspected of planting a high-explosive device attached to a girder under the south side of Hammersmith Bridge which detonated at 4.30am.
- 2000 17 November: Police arrest Moinul Abedin. His Birmingham house contained bomb-making instructions, equipment, and traces of the explosive HTMD. A nearby lock-up rented by Abedin contained 100 kg of the chemical components of HTMD.
- 2005 21 July: The 21 July 2005 London bombings, also conducted by four would-be suicide bombers on the public transport, whose bombs failed to go off.
- 2006 28 September: Talbot Street bomb-making haul
- 2007 1 February: The 2007 Plot to behead a British Muslim soldier
- 2007 29 June: 2007 London car bombs.
- 2008 27 February: British police thwarted a suspected plot to kill Abdullah of Saudi Arabia during a state visit to Britain in the year 2007 a senior officer said.
Given the nature of counter-terrorism, successes in preventing terrorist attacks in the UK will not always come to light, or not be as heavily promoted as intelligence failures. However, during the Police advocacy of 90 day detention during the Terrorism Act 2006 they produced documents listing all the cases about which they could not go into details.
Read more about this topic: List Of Terrorist Incidents In Great Britain
Famous quotes containing the words failed, aborted and/or attacks:
“I never failed to convince an audience that the best thing they could do was to go away.”
—Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866)
“During my administration the most unpleasant and perhaps most dramatic negotiations in which we participated were with the various leaders of Iran after the seizure of American hostages in November 1979. The Algerians were finally chosen as the only intermediaries who were considered trustworthy both by me and the Ayatollah Khomeini. After many aborted efforts, final success was achieved during my last few hours in the White House.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Neither the wrath of Heaven nor the attacks of enemies
are as fatal as Pleasure alone when she infects the mind.”
—Silius Italicus (26–101)