Terrorists could strike Britain by infecting country with bird flu

A commission led by Lord Ashdown, the former Liberal Democrat leader, identified 27 countries where terror organisations could become a threat to the UK. The report by the Institute of Public Policy Research warns that one of the biggest emerging threats comes from terrorists turning to biological warfare. The assessment comes from the IPPR's Commission on National Security for the 21st century which is chaired by Lord Ashdown and Lord Robertson, the former Secretary General of NATO, and includes Lord Guthrie, the former Chief of the Defence Staff and Sir David Omand, the former security and intelligence coordinator in the Cabinet Office. It says the danger from pandemic diseases such as SARS and Avian Flu is growing and that existing arrangements to respond to serious incidents are inadequate which means "a serious disease outbreak or bio-terrorism incident in the next 18 months could tip the global economy from serious recession into a global depression." The commission warns that the ingredients for sarin gas and mustard gas are easily available, that radioactive materials are in wide use in hospitals and industry and that there are insufficient checks on who is buying biological agents. "This in turn could allow a terrorist...............

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