Terrorism threat level in Britain raised to ‘severe’

This article is more than 12 months old

Nov 05, 2020 06:00 am

LONDON Britain's terrorism threat level has been raised to "severe" following attacks in France and Austria, Interior Minister Priti Patel said on Tuesday.

The change, which means an attack is now seen as "highly likely" according to the government's classification system, comes a day after a gunman in Vienna, identified as a convicted jihadist, killed four people in a rampage overnight.

France has also suffered three attacks in recent weeks.

"This is a precautionary measure following the terrible instances we've seen in France last week and the events we saw in Austria last night," Ms Patel said.

She said the public should not be alarmed and that the change in threat level was not based on any specific threat.- REUTERS