London, Dec 20 (IANS) Islamist terrorists are planning a Mumbai-style attack on London early next year with handguns, bombs and hostage-taking, senior security officials have told city authorities, while admitting commandos are unprepared to cope with such an assault.
“Mumbai is coming to London,” a senior officer from SO15, the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism command has told business leaders, local government and emergency services in a blunt warning.

In the briefing - held 22 days ago in the City of London, the financial centre of the British capital - the officer said companies should expect a shooting and hostage -taking raid “involving a small number of gunmen with handguns and improvised explosive devices”.

The warning is the bluntest yet issued by police following the 26/11 terrorist, The Sunday Times reported. The Mumbai carnage left 166 people dead and twice the number injured.

The warning has become specific in the past fortnight after British officials detected an increase in “intelligence chatter” - communications captured by electronic eavesdropping agencies.

“Before, there has been speculation. Now we are getting what appears to be a definite plot to carry out a firearms attack on London,” a security adviser told the paper.

But the paper said Britain’s security establishment is of the view that forces are unprepared to meet the challenge, and commandos may arrive too late to save lives.

Participants at a joint exercise held earlier this year by police, military and intelligence services concluded that “the capability doesn’t exist to deal with that situation should it arise”, said a military source.

The Metropolitan Police, which is responsible for securing the British capital, is “struggling to draw up effective plans to deal with the challenge of mass shootings followed by a prolonged siege with terrorists prepared to kill their hostages and themselves”, The Sunday Times said.

The police force is concerned that it will take commandos much longer than an hour to respond to the attack - mindful of the fact that many of the 26/11 victims were killed in the first hour of the attack.

Commandos from the Special Air Services (SAS), based at Regent’s Park on the northern fringes of central London, have traditionally dealt with terrorist sieges in London.

Although many Jewish centres are located in suburbs in north London, the financial district that is home to some of the biggest offices of international banks and other business establishments is in central London.

The SO15 warning follows intelligence on recent online discussions by jihadists who suggested using machineguns and bombs to strike at nightclubs, sporting venues and Jewish centres at a time when no Muslims or children are around.

“The (Mumbai) operation is the ideal scenario for operations you are talking about,” one contributor said.