ISIL may target streets of Britain: David Cameron

The advance of extremist groups can pose a direct threat to Britain, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has warned despite the country’s continuous support for such groups in the Middle East.

In an article published in The Sunday Telegraph, David Cameron warned that if the ISIL Takfiri militants grow stronger, the group would project a threat to the UK as well as the rest of Europe.

“If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain. We … know that it has the murderous intent,” he said.
The coalition government, with the help of the Metropolitan Police, should take action to hamper ISIL recruitment drive in Britain, he added.

The ISIL has seized large parts of northern Iraq and Syria so far. The terrorist group has been committing heinous crimes in the captured areas, including the mass execution of civilians.

Britain has openly supported the militancy in Syria to help topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. According to reports, an estimated 500 Britons have traveled to Syria to fight along the extremist militants there. Some British militants are also believed to have crossed into Iraq, where violence escalated two months ago after militants from the ISIL took control of large swathes of the Arab country.

The British government has been under pressure for not doing enough to stop the ISIL advances in Iraq and Syria. The bishop of Leeds, Nicholas Baines, has blamed Cameron for failing to develop a “coherent” plan to tackle the spread of violent Takfiri extremism in Iraq and Syria.