IS grows in fear as two men are found guilty of plotting to kill hundreds of Jews.

Investigators claim that two men found guilty of plotting to kill hundreds during an Islamic State inspired gun rampage in England against the Jewish Community, shows the risk posed by this militant group.

Police and prosecutors claimed that Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein were Islamic extremists who wanted to use automatic weapons to kill as many Jews they could.

If their plans had been carried out, they would have been responsible for "one of, if not, the deadliest terrorist attacks in UK history", according to Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts who is in charge of Counter-Terrorism Policing, Northwest England.

The convictions of the three men come just a little over a week after 15 people were murdered in a mass shooting on Sydney's Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration.

The Islamic State called the Australian attacks a "source for pride". The jihadist group has not claimed responsibility but its response has increased fears of an increase violent Islamist extremism.

Although not posing as much of a threat as it did ten years ago, when the Islamic State controlled vast regions of Iraq and Syria. European security officials warn that IS and al Qaeda affiliated groups are once more looking to export 'violence abroad and radicalise would-be attackers on the internet.

Last week, British Foreign Secretary Yvette cooper said: "You can start to see some of these terrorism threats growing again and beginning to escalate."

Two men are preparing to become Martyrs

British prosecutors informed?jurors Saadaoui, and Hussein "embraced the views" and were willing to risk their lives to become "martyrs".

Saadaoui arranged to have two assault rifles and an automatic pistol, as well as almost 200 rounds, smuggled in Britain through the port of Dover, when he arrested in May 2024.

Saadaoui also said that he planned to collect at least 900 cartridges and obtain two additional rifles. He was unaware that the man he had been trying to obtain weapons from, "Farouk", was actually an undercover agent. This meant that his plan was never implemented.

Sandhu claimed that the assault rifles Saadaoui was seeking were the same as those used by a 2015 islamist militant attack in Paris on the Bataclan Concert Hall, which killed 130 people. Sandhu said Saadaoui had "hero worshipped" Abdelhamid Abaaoud who was the mastermind of that 2015 attack on Paris' Bataclan concert hall.

Saadaoui wrote in a letter to "Farouk", who he believed to be a fellow militant that the Paris attacks were "the biggest operations after Osama bin Laden", making an apparent reference the attack of September 11, 2001 on the United States.

Potts stated that Walid's communication and interaction with the undercover agent, as well as some of his statements, made it clear that he did not consider a less complex attack using less lethal weapons to be good enough.

"Because in essence, it was his job and duty to kill as much Jewish people as possible, and that couldn't be done by using a knife, or, perhaps, a vehicle, as a weapon."

Saadaoui, Hussein and both had pleaded innocent. Saadaoui claimed that he was afraid for his own life and had participated in the plot.

Hussein, who was angry and shouted "How many babies?" from the dock during the first trial day, did not testify nor attend his trial. In an apparent reference Israel's Gaza war.

The Preston Crown Court convicted them on one charge of planning terrorist acts.

Bilel Saadaoui (36), Walid Saadaoui’s brother, was found guilty for failing to report information about terrorist acts. However, prosectors claimed that he had resisted joining the attack.

The threat of an Islamic state is growing

The foiled plot was the latest attempt in Britain or elsewhere to be inspired by Islamic State. This group emerged in Iraq and Syria a few years ago, and declared its "caliphate" over all Muslims. It displaced al Qaeda in large part.

In the years 2014-17, Islamic State ruled over millions of people in both countries and enforced a brutal, strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

The?fighters of the Islamic State also committed or inspired attacks on dozens cities in the world. These were often attributed to Islamic State, even if they had no actual link.

SITE Intelligence group said that after the Bondi Beach Attack in Australia, IS had encouraged Muslims?to take action elsewhere, especially singling out Belgium.

Unnamed European intelligence officials said that IS is flooding social media with propaganda. While this only affects a few people, the increased number of terrorism investigations was greater than last year.

Ken McCallum is the head of Britain's MI5, the domestic spy agency. He said that since the beginning of 2020 his service, along with the police, had foiled 19 late-stage plots and countered hundreds of other terrorist threats.

McCallum stated that "terrorism is born in the dark corners of the Internet where poisonous ideologies of any kind meet volatile and chaotic lives of individuals." (Reporting from Sam Tobin and Andy Bruce, in London; writing by Michael Holden and editing by Mark Heinrich.

(source: Reuters)