'Hundreds' kept on terror watch

BBC
Sep. 13, 2005

Hundreds of people are being kept under surveillance as part of the battle against terrorism, Home Secretary Charles Clarke has told MPs.

Questioned by the cross-party home affairs committee, Mr Clarke also revealed he had approved using a control order against a UK citizen.

But he has lifted orders - which can include house arrest or other restrictions - on nine other suspects.

Control orders are now being used against only three suspects.

Mr Clarke has rejected three requests for the terms of the orders to be changed.

'Shoot-to-kill'

The MPs, who have interrupted their summer break from Westminster for the special session, are also questioning Metropolitan Police chief Sir Ian Blair.

He is being asked about the "shoot-to-kill-to-protect" policy of dealing with suspected suicide bombers.

But committee chairman John Denham stressed the MPs would not go into details of either the bombings on 7 and 21 July or the fatal shooting by police of an innocent Brazilian man, Jean Charles de Menezes, at Stockwell tube station.

Both cases were still before the courts, he explained.

Proved wrong?

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Tony Blair said hundreds of people were plotting attacks in the UK.

Asked about those comments, Mr Clarke said: "There are certainly hundreds of individuals who we have been watching very closely and continue to watch extremely closely.

"The word plotting is an interesting word. There are certainly hundreds of people who we believe need to be very closely surveyed because of the threat they offer."

Mr Clarke also told the MPs the Metropolitan Police had faced £60m in extra costs after the attacks, up to 1 September.

About two months before the bombings, the official terrorism threat level was lowered slightly from "severe general" to "substantial".

Mr Denham asked why the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre had been proved to be wrong after saying there was not a single terrorist group which had both the intent and the capability to mount an attack.

Mr Clarke said intelligence was an effort to understand what was happening - it was not the same as knowing "what is out there".

He said the resources of the security services were being increased and new partnerships forged with overseas intelligence networks.

And later this week he will publish the full details of proposed new laws for tackling terrorism.

Long term threat

The home secretary refused to put a timescale on how long the UK would face the terrorist threat, but said it could be a "considerable time".

The timing would depend on the UK showing it would not be shifted from defending its society, he argued.

Mr Clarke said there had been a "marginal" shift since the 7 July bombings towards believing those behind the attacks had international links.

But that feature had always been part of the investigations.

The video confession of one of the bombers was still being investigated to ascertain where it had been produced, he added.

Mr Clarke said he did not believe "shoot to kill" was the right way to describe the controversial police policy.

He said: "The objective of the policy is not to go around killing people. The objective of the policy is to protect the public against any particular threat of criminality that can arise."