Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror group is recruiting British children as young as 15 to wage a campaign of carnage against their own country, the new head of MI5 has said.
Gimson Unbound: Talking terror
Read: Jonathan Evans's speech in full
In his first public speech since taking over the security service in the summer, Jonathan Evans said Islamists were "radicalising, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism".
Mr Evans said the threat has yet to reach its peak
Mr Evans said the threat posed by al-Qa'eda had yet to reach its peak despite one successful bomb attack and several thwarted atrocities. He also revealed in a speech in Manchester that al-Qa'eda was using the chaos in Iraq as cover for its overseas forays. While Pakistan remained the base for the "core" leadership which controls its activities, "there is no doubt now that al-Qa'eda in Iraq aspires to promote terrorist attacks outside Iraq," he said.
Mr Evans added: "There is no doubt there is training activity and terrorist planning in East Africa - particularly in Somalia - which is focused on the UK.
"And there is no doubt that the extension of what one might call the 'al-Qa'eda franchise' to other groups in other countries - notably in Algeria - has created a significant upsurge in terrorist violence in these countries."
His warnings will fuel the growing political row over the length of time terror suspects should be detained without charge.
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A new terrorism Bill to be announced in the Queen's Speech will propose increasing the time limit from 28 days to as much as 56 days.
Although Mr Evans steered clear of taking sides in any political controversy he outlined the scale of the threat on which ministers will rely to make their case for tougher laws..
"MI5 has now identified around 2,000 individuals who we believe pose a direct threat to national security and public safety because of their support for international terrorism," he said.
"This increase from 1600 in November 2006 is due both to improved coverage of extremist communities and to the continued flow of new recruits to the extremist cause."
He added: "Extremists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in the UK.
"This year, MI5 has seen individuals as young as 15 and 16 implicated in terrorist-related activity.
"The UK needs to protect its children from exploitation by violent extremists."
Mr Evans said the battle of ideologies would be a long one because the extremists worked in historical timescales.
"If the UK only reacts tactically while its enemies plan strategically, then we will struggle to meet this challenge," he said.
"The struggle against violent extremism relies not only on good intelligence and law enforcement, but also on the determination and perseverance of us all to resist extremism and to protect a decent, tolerant and open society."
Mr Evans said the successful and attempted attacks in Britain had not been random plots by disparate groups but co-ordinated and deliberate actions ordered by al-Qa'eda's leadership.
"The majority of these attacks, successful or otherwise, have taken place because al-Qa'eda has a clear determination to mount terrorist attacks against the United Kingdom," he said.
"This remains the case today, and there is no sign of it reducing. So although MI5 and the police are investigating plots, and thwarting them, on a continuing basis, we do not view them in isolation.
"Al-Qa'eda is conducting a deliberate campaign against us. It is the expression of a hostility towards the UK which existed long before September 11 2001.
"It is evident in the wills and letters left behind by actual and would-be bombers."
Ministers say one reason why longer detention is needed to question suspects is the growing complexity of the conspiracies now being uncovered.
Mr Evans said: "We now see different levels of sophistication. Yes, we have seen unsophisticated attempts to kill and injure, but we have also seen complex, logistically effective plots, which require a high degree of expertise and accurate targeting.
"We have to pay equal attention to both the crude and the complex. Because the primitive can be just as deadly as the sophisticated."
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