Terror Chief: ISIS Planning 'Enormous and Spectacular Attacks'
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Scotland Yard's counter terror chief has warned that the Islamic State group harbors ambitions of "enormous and spectacular attacks," as jihadis broaden their plots to target Western lifestyles.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley told reporters Monday that while ISIS once primarily attacked military and police targets, their aims are now more assertive.
"You see a terrorist group which has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date," Rowley said.
He explained that the group's strategy is shifting. While it had once largely been using propaganda to radicalize people to act in their name, it is now "trying to build bigger attacks."
He said the group is trying to bring jihadis trained in Syria into northern Europe to launch attacks.
In 2015, the number of terrorism arrests in the U.K. reached a new high at 339. In the past three years arrests have risen 57 percent over the three previous years, he said.
According to the Telegraph, British natonals accounted for 77 percent of the arrests; women accounted for 14 percent, and 13 percent were less than 21 years of age.
The rising number of female attackers show how ISIS propaganda is resonating with certain people, he said.
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