British security chiefs had intelligence on splinter group

British security chiefs have had intelligence for nearly a year about an al-Qaida-supporting splinter group based in Luton and London where many of today’s raids took place.

Leaked German intelligence documents revealed last May that a cell linked to the “al Tawhid” group was operating there.

At least six addresses were raided in Luton today, and more in London, although it was not clear whether there were any connections to al Tawhid.

The presence of the group in Luton and London came to light after some of its members were arrested in Germany in 2002 and 2003 amid allegations of links to the “Hamburg cell” which took part in the September 11 hijackings.

Abu Qatada, the Palestinian-Jordanian cleric who is currently held without charge in Belmarsh prison under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, is argued by British Home Secretary David Blunkett to have been the spiritual adviser to al Tawhid.

Investigators in Jordan claim Qatada was a “roving ambassador” for Osama bin Laden in Europe and he has also been named as a spiritual adviser for al-Qaida.

Shoe bomber Richard Reid sought religious advice from Qatada who once called on British Muslims to martyr themselves in a holy war against oppression. Qatada denies any involvement in terrorism.

Al Tawhid’s primary mission is to overthrow the Jordanian monarchy and replace it with a fundamentalist Islamic regime.

German intelligence named its leader last year as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the same Jordanian identified by United States Secretary of State Colin Powell as a link between bin Laden’s al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

Since the overthrow of Saddam, Zarqawi has come to the fore, being credited with trying to start a civil war through suicide bombings in Iraq.

He now heads the list of the US’s most wanted men in Iraq.

Authorities are also investigating his possible links to one of the suspects in the recent Madrid bombings.