UK on high alert for Paris copycat attacks

Great Britain is on the verge of raising the country’s terror threat to the highest level in seven years on Saturday out of fears of attacks similar to those which took place in Paris last week, the Sunday Times reports.

Senior security sources tell the paper that the threat of 150 jihadists in the UK carrying out a “spectacular” terrorist attack on British soil was nearing “critical.”

Thirty former Islamic State fighters currently in the UK are under surveillance by domestic security because they are deemed a serious threat, British security sources tell the Times. Another 120 have “extremist” views may have firearms training and could be capable of carrying out attacks like those in Paris, and their observation by British authorities will be reassessed.

Police patrols around Jewish targets in the UK have been increased, as Al-Qaeda in Yemen has instructed its operatives that Britain is a higher priority target than France, The Times reports.