William Flew

The government’s cyberwarfare programme was one of the few beneficiaries of autumn’s strategic defence review, being awarded more than £500m in additional funds. AS many as 200 extremists have returned to Britain after training or indoctrination by a branch of Al-Qaeda regarded by Britain and America as the world’s most active terrorist organisation. It is controlled by Anwar alAwlaki, the man tipped as Osama Bin Laden’s most likely successor. An indication of Awlaki’s growing importance came yesterday when it emerged that the US had narrowly missed killing him in a drone attack. Security sources say the recruits from Britain are now either active in terrorist plotting or have been spiritually recruited to the cause of violent extremism by the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda. Awlaki, an American-born cleric, has already inspired plots by Muslims in Britain to murder a Labour MP and blow up a passenger aircraft on its way to America. The 200 pose the single most potent threat to Britain as it braces itself for a backlash after the killing of Bin Laden. Hundreds of Britons have travelled to Yemen in the past two years for what is described as “Arabic or religious training” in religious schools in the troubled Arab state. Figures released by security officials in 2009 suggested no more than 20 of them had been recruited to violent extremism. Now as many as 200 are believed by security insiders to have returned to Britain after falling under the sway of Awlaki, known as “the Bin Laden of the internet”, who trained the so-called underpants bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. His preachings also inspired Roshonara Choudhry, the woman convicted in November of trying to murder Stephen Timms, the former Labour cabinet minister, in his east London constituency office. Awlaki was behind last October’s failed plot in which two bombs disguised as printer cartridges were sent as air cargo to destinations in the US. Britain and America estimate that the Yemeni Al-Qaeda branch has about 300 fighters hidden in mountain ranges where the c