SAS mounts its biggest counter-terror operation in decades to protect Remembrance Day events amid fears of disruption by radical Islamists and the radical Left
The SAS will mount its biggest security operation in London in more than forty years due to the threat of a terror attack at the National Service of Remembrance.
The SAS will mount its biggest security operation in London in more than forty years due to the threat of a terror attack at the National Service of Remembrance.
They will be at the Cenotaph watching over the thousands of veterans, members of the public and dignitaries who will meet at Whitehall at 11am.
It is understood to be the largest deployment in London since the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980, a source told the Sunday Express.
It comes after Ken McCallum, MI5 chief, warned that the security service has one hell of a job on its hands in protecting the public from Islamic groups, right wing groups and hostile nations such as Russia and Iran.
Special forces soldiers will be deployed in large numbers in an attempt to target lone wolves.
Around 10,000 veterans from all conflicts are set to gather in London for Remembrance Day.
Chelsea Pensioners parade during the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph on Whitehall in central London
Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5 warned that the security service has one hell of a job on its hands in protecting the public
SAS troops will be drawn from the Special Forces Group and operate under the Mets Counter Terror Command.
A counter-terror source said: For Remembrance Day our focus is on radical Islamists and the radical Left, financed by Iran.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: We are forever in debt to those brave souls who fought to defend this country.
Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch said: We owe so much to our Armed Forces and the families who support them.
It will be the biggest deployment of the SAS since 1980, when six Arab gunmen occupied the Iranian embassy in South Kensington, seizing 26 hostages including a British policeman.
Sim Harris escaping from the Iranian Embassy during a siege in 1980
A photograph taken from the incident at the Iranian embassy in London in 1980
Six young Arab gunmen – the self-styled Group of the Martyr –occupied the building in Princes Gate, South Kensington, seizing 26 hostages in the process
They took the hostages in a move against the theocratic rule of the Ayatollah Khomeini after he ousted the Shah.
The SAS team, climbed their way into the building from the Royal College of General Practitioners next door.
Fifty men took part in the assault: 34 inside the building and 16 in the reception area and on sniper detail.
The SAS Special Projects team were each equipped with a sub-machine gun with four 30-round magazines, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with two spare rounds of ammunition, a respirator, gloves, balaclava helmet, body armour, boots, belt and weapons-cleaning kit.
Vans carried tear-gas launchers and canisters, stun grenades, sawn-off pump-action shotguns, explosives, gun torches, food, water, radios, medical equipment and spare weapons.
