Wikileaks: US Identifies Key Sites Around World For Security
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The United States has identified hundreds of sites around the world that it fears could be targeted in terrorist attacks.

The list, released by WikiLeaks, includes a dozen sites in Britain, including two telecommunications centres, several undersea communications cables, a military manufacturing plant and a vaccine production centre.

A February 2009 State Department cable asked embassies around the world to update a 2008 list of vital interests. Unlike most of the documents made available by WikiLeaks so far, it was marked “secret”.

The Government immediately condemned the latest release.

A Downing Street spokesman said this morning: "We unequivocally condemn the unauthorised release of classified information.

"The leaks and their publication are damaging to national security in the United States, Britain and elsewhere.

Though most of the information was in the public domain, its release is likely to lead to accusations that WikiLeaks did not care if it aided terrorists. >>> Alex Spillius, Washington | Monday, December 06, 2010

Terrorist Groups Are Developing a Dirty Bomb According to Security Chiefs
THE TELEGRAPH: Islamist terrorists have stepped up their efforts to develop a "dirty" bomb for use against Western targets, senior Western security sources have told The Daily Telegraph.

They are exploiting the political chaos in Pakistan in a bid to acquire nuclear material for a 'spectacular' attack.

At least one plot has been uncovered involving Pakistani-based terrorists planning to use nuclear material against a major European target.

Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terror group, whose terrorist infrastructure is based in the province of Waziristan in northwest Pakistan, is known to be trying to acquire nuclear technology to use in terror attacks against the West.

Other militant Islamist groups in Pakistan, such as the newly formed Pakistani Taliban, have also shown an interest in developing weapons with a nuclear capability, according to Western security officials.

Security chiefs fear the mounting political instability in Pakistan will make it easier for militant Islamist groups to develop a primitive nuclear device.

Pakistan is the world's only Muslim country with a nuclear weapons arsenal, which was developed during the 1990s by the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadir (AQ) Khan.

Dr Khan was placed under house arrest after he was accused of selling the blueprint for Pakistan's atom bomb to rogue states such as Libya, North Korea and Iran. But the restrictions on Dr Khan's detention have been eased since President Pervez Musharraf was forced from power.

Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is subject to stringent security safeguards put in place with the help of the American military when Mr Musharraf was in office. But there is mounting concern within Western security circles that Islamic terror groups will gain access to Pakistan's expertise in developing terrorist weapons containing nuclear material.

"Islamist militant groups want to carry out terror attacks on a massive scale, and there is no better way for them to achieve that objective than to develop some form of primitive nuclear device," said a senior U.S. security official.

The most likely terror device using nuclear material is a "dirty bomb", where conventional explosives are fitted with radioactive material. Terror Groups Developing 'Dirty Bomb', Say Security Chiefs >>> | September 9, 2008

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