Terror Network in Paris Attacks Said to Have U.K. Links Western officials say alleged connections are based in Birmingham area By Benoît Faucon and Alexis Flynn
http://www.wsj.com/articles/terror-network-in-paris-attacks-said-to-have-u-k-links-1449260018
Western officials believe the terror network behind last month’s massacre in Paris has links to people in the U.K., fueling concerns about the threat faced in Europe.
Several people suspected of having connections to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Islamic State operative and alleged ringleader of the Nov. 13 attacks, are based in the U.K., according to two Western officials. The officials said those people, including some of Moroccan heritage, are based in the Birmingham area, about 120 miles northwest of London.
At least one person connected to the attacks is believed to have traveled to the U.K. before the shootings, the officials said.
London’s Metropolitan Police, the lead service on counterterror issues in the U.K., declined to comment. Metropolitan Police officers stationed in Paris are helping with the French investigation.
Mr. Abaaoud, a Belgian national of Moroccan descent, died during a raid by French police days after the attacks, in which 130 people at a concert hall, restaurants and a soccer stadium were killed by attackers armed with guns and explosives.
The U.K.’s second-largest city has some known ties to Islamist extremism. Junaid Hussain, a Birmingham native, went to Syria and became a leading hacker for Islamic State. He was killed by a U.S. drone strike in August while he was in a car in Raqqa, Syria.
Several Islamist terrorist cells of North African origin have been connected with the city and the surrounding region. That includes a Birmingham resident of Algerian origin, Rabah Tahari, who was named by U.K. lawmakers as the leader of a group fighting in Syria called Kateeba al-Kawthar.
The U.K.’s most senior counterterror officer Mark Rowley, during testimony to a panel of lawmakers on Nov. 24, said the Paris attacks were evidence of a network determined to attack in Europe.
“You would be expecting us and the security services to be working flat out to look for any possible links and connections of that network to anything in the U.K.,” Mr. Rowley said. “I can give you 100% assurance we are doing that but it would be wrong to discuss the detail of what we are or are not finding.”
Belgian officials said Friday they were now looking for four suspects in connection with the Paris attacks, up from two. The two new suspects were using fake Belgian identification documents with the names Samir Bouzid and Soufiane Kayal, the federal prosecutors’ office said.
Authorities continue to seek Salah Abdeslam, who investigators say fled back to Belgium after likely dumping a suicide vest he failed to detonate in the assault, and Mohamed Abrini, who is suspected of having driven Mr. Abdeslam to Paris.
The U.K.’s terror alert has been since last year at the second-highest level, “severe,” which means an attack is highly likely. It is the second-highest ranking after “critical,” which means an attack is expected imminently.
The government had said the heightened alert level was related to the growth of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, including from foreign fighters who had traveled from the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe. Some 800 people have traveled from the U.K. to join the conflict, according to the U.K. government.
Prime Minister David Cameron has argued in recent days that the U.K. needed to join U.S.-led airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria because the group posed a direct threat to the U.K.
The Paris attacks “could just as well have been in London as in Paris,” Mr. Cameron said Nov. 26. This past week, Britain extended its bombing campaign against the militant group to Syria from Iraq, after lawmakers approved the move.
“Many countries in Europe, including the U.K., are justifiably concerned about the possibility of follow-on terror attacks after the tragedy in Paris and remain on high-alert,” a U.S. official said. “This is heightened by the fact that law enforcement and security agencies are still seeking to identify and roll-up terrorist networks that may be connected” to Islamic State plotting.
British authorities have stepped up security, including increasing the police presence at some locations and intensifying their approach in big cities. It also tightened border checks on people, vehicles and goods entering the U.K.
In addition, the U.K. is reviewing its response to firearm attacks to ensure that any lessons from Paris are learned, the government said.
Mr. Rowley, during his testimony, said the U.K.’s counterterror approach generally involved casting a wide net. That means “going for those involved in plotting but also those on the periphery, and constantly trying to disrupt them, doing everything we can do to keep them on the back foot, which makes it hard for them to find their feet and plan the sort of acts that we saw in Paris.”
British intelligence agents have on their radar several thousand individuals allegedly linked to violent extremism in the U.K., though only a small portion are under heavy surveillance at any one time, government officials say.
—Damian Paletta and Jenny Gross contributed to this article.
Write to Alexis Flynn at alexis.flynn@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications:
Birmingham is about 120 miles northwest of London. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was northeast. (Dec. 4, 2015)
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