Two men have been found guilty in Britain of planning an Islamic State inspired gun attack aimed at killing hundreds of people from the Jewish community, a case authorities say highlights the renewed threat posed by extremist violence in Europe.
A jury convicted Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, on Tuesday after prosecutors detailed a plan to carry out a mass shooting using automatic weapons. Investigators said the pair intended to kill as many Jews as possible before dying as martyrs.
Police said the plot was disrupted before it could be carried out, preventing what could have been one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in British history.
Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts, who oversees counter terrorism policing in northwest England, said the planned attack showed the danger posed by militants inspired by Islamic State ideology.
“Had their plans come to fruition, it would have resulted in one of, if not the, deadliest terrorist attack in UK history,” Potts said following the verdict.
The convictions come at a time of heightened concern over extremist violence targeting Jewish communities. They follow a deadly shooting at a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney earlier this month that killed 15 people, an attack praised by Islamic State even though the group did not formally claim responsibility.
British and European security officials have warned that while Islamic State no longer controls territory as it once did, the group continues to encourage violence abroad by radicalizing individuals online.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said last week that security agencies were seeing signs of renewed escalation. “You can see signs of some of those terrorism threats starting to grow again,” she said.
Prosecutors told the court that Saadaoui and Hussein had embraced Islamic State ideology and were willing to die in the attack.
According to prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu, Saadaoui attempted to smuggle two assault rifles, an automatic pistol, and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition into Britain through the port of Dover. He was arrested in May 2024 before the weapons entered the country.
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Sandhu said Saadaoui also planned to acquire additional firearms and at least 900 rounds of ammunition. The effort failed because the man he believed was supplying the weapons, known as Farouk, was an undercover operative.
The weapons Saadaoui sought were similar to those used in the 2015 Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris that killed 130 people, prosecutors said.
Evidence presented in court showed Saadaoui admired previous large scale attacks carried out by Islamist militants. Prosecutors said he idolized Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who coordinated the Paris attacks.
In a message to the undercover operative, Saadaoui described the Bataclan massacre as “the biggest operation after that of Osama,” an apparent reference to the September 11 attacks in the United States.
