Britain at severe risk of terrorist attack, says public alert system

Britain faces a severe risk of another terrorist attack, the first public terror warning system of the country said on the Home Office and MI5 websites on Tuesday.

The threat level was made public for the first time since the current five-tier threat rating system was introduced earlier this month.

The system ranks threats as low, moderate, substantial, severe or critical. The levels will be updated and the public will be advised as to what action to take in response to any threat.

British Home Secretary John Reid has ordered the changes to simplify the previous seven tier system, which was criticized as too complicated and was not available to the public.

The previous threat levels were determined by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center based at MI5 in London, which handles more than 50,000 items of intelligence every year.

The center's role came under intense scrutiny after last July's London bombings when it emerged that the organization had lowered the threat level from "several general" to "substantial" only a month before the attacks.

Source: Xinhua