Fears of a terror attack during the UK General Election have been further fueled by reports that the Al-Qaeda has urged British fanatics to build DIY cruise missiles to attack passenger jets. According to reports, an Al-Qaeda website explains how to build missiles with solid fuel engines using operating manuals for the Russian 107mm Katyusha rocket. Numerous links are also available for guides to make explosives, including C4 plastic explosive, acetone peroxide and TNT.The same site was used to explain how to bring down a jet before former London student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit on last year's Christmas Day. Another recent posting shows a sophisticated computer-designed plan for a two-stage missile that would drop an explosive device on to a target by parachute.
"Isn't it ironic that the two capitals of the war against Islam, Washington DC and London, have also become among the centres of Western Jihad?" The Daily Express quoted Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical on the run in the Yemen, as saying on the website. "Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea," he added.
Meanwhile, UK's counter-intelligence and security agencies M15 and M16 are closely monitoring the site, after statistics suggested that the website's "ask the experts" section contains more than 800 questions and answers about bomb-making and has been viewed 19,000 times.