THE UK is facing an increased risk of a terrorist attack from 'dirty bombs' such as nuclear weapons, the Home Office claimed yesterday.
It warned of the danger posed by terrorists who could get hold of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, as unstable states like Iraq have made it easier to obtain the materials.
The assessment came as Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, unveiled
a UK strategy to tackle the terrorist threat. As part of the plans, managers of shopping centres and stores will be among 60,000 workers trained to help deal with the danger.
Ms Smith described the threat as "severe" – meaning an attack is "highly likely" and "could happen without warning".
Launching the anti-terrorism strategy, she said the "widest range" of people needed to be enlisted to tackle the threat.
She said: "I don't think tackling terrorism is something we can solely depend on the police and security and intelligence agencies to do – brilliant though they are. We can't tackle terrorism simply from Whitehall."
The Home Secretary identified "shopping centre managers, store managers, people who were responsible for the security in those areas", as being key in the battle against terrorism.
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said the service was working closely with businesses, exploring practical measures to counteract terrorism.
But last night Jim Wyllie, the director of strategic studies at Aberdeen University, dismissed the government's announcement as "window-dressing".
The security expert said: "They're not training ordinary people to tackle terrorists. In purely practical terms, (they] can do no more than alert people in shopping centres and hotels to the fact that someone might try to plant a bomb."
Announcing Contest 2 – the anti-terrorism crackdown – the Home Secretary said that the threat from extremists was ever-present.
The report is the first unclassified document to contain a detailed account of UK officials' assessment of the underlying causes of the terrorist threat and its likely future direction.
It contains a stark warning about the likelihood of an attack involving a "dirty bomb".
The report says: "Contemporary terrorist organisations aspire to use chemical, biological, radiological and even nuclear weapons.
"Changing technology and the theft and smuggling of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) materials make this aspiration more realistic than it may have been in the recent past."
It also notes that terrorists have created new explosives and new ways of using them, and that technology developed in conflict zones is quickly shared around the world.
The Home Secretary said the greatest security threat came from "al-Qaeda and related groups and individuals", mainly on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border."
Pakistan set to share names of terror suspects who live in UKMORE than 20 Britons monitored by Pakistan's intelligence service and who are believed to have spent time with militant groups have returned to the UK, it was reported yesterday.
The tracked men are said to have trained with extremists linked to al-Qaeda and the Taleban and are thought to pose a potential threat to British security.
The dossier of names is expected to be handed over to British anti-terrorist teams soon and is being seen as a "big leap forward" in the sharing of intelligence between the countries.
But it believed that questions could be asked about why the names were not handed over before the suspects re-entered the UK.
The suspects are aged between 17 and 23 and have apparently created "sufficient suspicion" with their activities for the ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service, to believe they pose a "potential danger" to Britain.
At least four of them are thought to have been fighting in Afghanistan.
A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We do not comment on intelligence matters such as this."
Martha Linden 