'Terror suspects planning nerve gas attack in London'

LONDON: Islamic terror suspects were planning a chemical attack in London similar to the 1995 outrage on the Tokyo underground, which prompted last week's counter-terrorist operation in east of the British capital in which one person was shot and another arrested, according to security sources.

British internal intelligence agency Mi5 operatives suspect that Al-Qaeda sympathisers intended to produce a nerve agent - probably sarin - and release it in a confined space, such as a tube carriage, to maximise the number of casualties.

The sarin attack on three railway lines in the Japanese capital killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000 in March 1995. It was the world's first major chemical attack and used sarin, a nerve agent, which attacks the respiratory system.

According to security sources, a new atrocity was planned on or close to the anniversary of the July 7 attacks in London, when four terrorists killed themselves and 52 others, and injured more than 700 people. This would have provided a rallying call to Al-Qaeda sympathisers to carry on their 'jihad' or holy war against the West.