Terror attack risk rises due to British polls

LONDON, Tuesday (AFP) The chance of a terrorist attack on London has risen due to the general election on May 5 and Britain's rigid support of the war in Iraq, according to a private risk assessment published Tuesday.

The Guardian newspaper said the assessment by Aon - a risk insurance broker - lifted the threat level for the British city to "elevated" from "guarded" - higher than other Western capitals. Iraq is listed as "severe".

"It is a subjective opinion based on open sources and experience," Rob Preston, Aon's terrorism risk consultant, told the newspaper.

He dismissed the idea that the risk of an attack in London was the same as that in Baghdad or Kabul in Afghanistan, but insisted it had increased.

"The terrorism threat in western Europe had increased this year. In particular, the last 12-to-24 months has seen those sympathetic to Islamic militancy return to Europe from places like Iraq," he said.

"Secondly, there may be threats to the general election. As we saw in Madrid last year, it is a contemporary tactic and one which terrorists may well claim to have used successfully to influence the result."

Ahead of elections in Spain, ten bombs ripped apart four trains on March 11, 2004, killing 191 people in the Madrid blasts, the worst terror attack the country has known.

The Guardian noted that Britain's secret service, MI5 assessed the threat of an attack by groups linked to terror network Al-Qaeda as "severe - general". It was raised to this level - MI5's second highest - at the end of 2003.

The newspaper cited senior intelligence officials as saying that there was no need to raise the warning further despite the general election campaign.