At least 1,200 homegrown Islamic fanatics are under surveillance by the security services, it has emerged.
They are drawn from 400,000 'sympathisers' with extremist causes currently living in the UK.
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In addition, several zealots have already tried to infiltrate the domestic security service, MI5.
The extraordinary scale of the UK terrorist threat was revealed yesterday - just days before the first anniversary of the July 7 attacks on London.
MI5 sources told the BBC that the agency has doubled its staff to 3,500, set up eight regional offices and weeded out several potential infiltrators since last year.
Those would-be 'sleepers' were discovered during the stringent background checks of the 100,000 job applicants the agency processes every year.
The stark warning from MI5 came as the country's leading anti-terror police officer disclosed that youthful British-born Islamic terrorists have replaced foreign radicals as the main source of dangerous discontent.
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