Olympics: UK plans missile deployment amidst al-Qaeda threat

The six sites where the missiles are proposed to be deployed include the Lexington Building in Tower Hamlets,Fred Wigg Tower in Waltham Forest,east London,Blackheath Common; Oxleas Wood,Eltham; William Girling Reservoir,Enfield and Barn Hill in Epping Forest.

On the deployment of missiles,the Ministry of Defence said the safety of the July 27-August 12 Olympic Games was paramount and a 8220;broad range of community engagement8221; had taken place.

During a major Olympics-focussed security exercise in April,Commander General Sir Nick Parker explained there must be a plan which could deal with 8220;the unlikely but very serious threat8221; that might exist to the Olympic Park.

He said,8221;It8217;s an air threat,really categorised in two ways,the sort of 9/11 threat everyone knows about,and also for the lower,slower type of target which might pop up closer to the Olympic Park,which we would need to intervene.8221;

Quoting intelligence sources,The Sunday Times reported that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP had trained a Norwegian convert and is understood to have also selected a target,believed to be a US passenger jet.

The paper said that the plot confirmed fears among US and British intelligence agencies that al-Qaeda was seeking to recruit radicalised Westerners in an attempt to evade airport security.

The report quoted an unnamed Whitehall official as saying: 8220;There is terrorist plotting going on irrespective of the Olympics. The only thing that connects this to the Olympics is the fact that they are about to happen.8221;