Daily Times

Recent debates in the print and electronic media about the possible use of chlorine bombs or biological weapons in the UK have caused deep concerns in government and military circles that the radicalised jihadists returning to the country from Syria may possibly use these weapons. Yet experts have warned that the acquisition of nuclear weapons by the terrorists of Islamic State (IS) poses a greater threat to the national security of the UK. The gravest danger arises from the access of extremist and terror groups to the state-owned nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of Iraq and Syria. The growing use of chlorine bombs became a matter of concern when a former commander of the Joint Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Regiment told The Times that the UK needed to take strong security measures and control the availability of chemical weapons such as chlorine bombs to the terrorists. Counterterrorism expert Olivier Guitta told The Times that the threat of improvised chemical bombs was also increasing.

The first such incident was that of IS commanders gaining access to the Iraqi nuclear weapons site in Mosul University. Recent cases of nuclear proliferation and attacks on nuclear installations across the globe have further exacerbated the concern about the threat of nuclear attacks in the UK, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The threat of chemical and biological jihad in the UK has raised serious questions about the security of its nuclear weapons. Experts have warned that the UK-based, IS-trained jihadists, the Taliban and Bengali, Afghani, Somali, Nigerian, Arab and Pakistani extremist groups pose a great security threat.

Improvised explosive devices and chemical and biological weapons are easily available in some Asian and African markets and can be transported to the UK through human traffickers. The influx of trained terrorists and organised criminals from several Asian, African and European states has raised concerns that these people who sought asylum through fake documents, or tried to gain citizenship through marriages, could pose a threat to the country. According to the United UK Strategy for Countering Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism (CBRN-2010), “radiological material can be combined with explosives to produce a radiological dispersion device (RDD), sometimes called a dirty bomb which will contaminate people, and buildings.”

In his recent dossier, William McNeill warned that the UK Trident system is not very secure. He also reported a host of minor breakdowns and faults, which could be resolved, but there are some issues that require serious investigation. As examples he mentioned some unreported incidents, like the collisions of British and French nuclear weapons submarines. The threat of chemical and biological weapons further intensified when British Home Secretary Theresa May warned that members of IS are trying to acquire nuclear weapons to attack the west. She also warned that jihadists in the UK want to acquire nuclear and biological weapons to be used within the country. Experts in London have warned that these threats should not be considered small or insignificant.

In a press conference in Australia, President Obama declared that if his government discovered that IS had come to possess a nuclear weapon, he would get it out of their hands. The fear of such attacks still exists in the UK because more than 6,000 British and European nationals have joined IS’s military campaign in Syria and Iraq. The British law enforcement and intelligence community’s fear that the terrorist group can buy nuclear weapons from the black market or any irresponsible state is justified because IS has reportedly developed nuclear weapons using radioactive materials stolen from an Iraqi university.

In 2013, chemical attacks in the outskirts of Damascus posed a direct threat to the US and its allies, causing the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution on chemical weapons in Syria. The international operation of transporting the components of these weapons out of Syria was completed in the first half of 2014. In 2015, IS tried to gain access to these weapons in Syria and, in some cases, used chlorine bombs for terrorist activities in Iraq and Syria. On January 6, 2015, cases of IS using chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria emerged. These chemical attacks illustrate that IS and the Syrian opposition chose to use chemical weapons preferentially in Iraq and Syria. In Pakistan and Afghanistan as well, IS is seeking these weapons to use them against the armed forces. In the latest issue of its magazine (Dabiq), Islamic State claimed that it wants to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan but experts view this claim as baseless, saying that a country like Pakistan would never allow IS to purchase nuclear weapons from the country.

IS seeks the allegiance of either the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or the Afghan Taliban. If IS obtains nuclear explosives or biological weapons in Pakistan, this would be a new chapter in its war against civilians. But with 25,000-30,000 nuclear personnel in the country’s army, how could they possibly attain nuclear weapons from Pakistan? The UK’s fears can be justified amidst these speculations and looming threats of nuclear terrorism. I hope that our professional intelligence community is aware of all these looming threats and can tackle them using their expertise.

The writer is the author of Punjabi Taliban and can be reached at zai.musakhan222@gmail.com