This month in our UK Threat Monitor report, UK authorities are remaining in a heightened state of alert following the Manchester bombing and London vehicle and knife attacks of the past few months. The Hamburg knife attack of July 28 is highly indicative of the threat posed to civilians by militants opting for a low-tech approach, as seen in the Westminster and Borough Market attacks in March and June respectively. The assailant, Ahmad A., a failed asylum seeker from the UAE, was registered on a German Islamist database, but was not known to have any links to terrorism. Eye witnesses reported he entered into a frenzy when he began to stab supermarket customers, shouting ‘Alluha Akbar’. He was however also known to suffer from mental health problems. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick announced that counter-terrorism forces have thwarted five attacks in the past few weeks, some of which were reportedly minutes away from being executed, indicating that a high threat persists. It is also envisaged that the increasing difficulty for Jihadis travelling to Syria or Iraq will result in heightened activity on home soil. The latest attacks in the UK have largely seen a shift away from the organised, highly trained groups which found success in previous years, such as the 2005 London suicide bombers who were reportedly directed by al Qaeda and trained in Pakistan.

Read more in our UK Threat Monitor report.