Royal Wedding 2011: Terror alert as security chiefs warn attack is 'highly likely'
A terrorist attack on the day of the Royal Wedding is 'highly likely', security chiefs have warned.
Strict measures have been put in place around London in preparation for hundreds of thousands of well-wishers on Friday.
But the government is braced for attacks in other places after being warned that Irish republican groups could be plotting disruption in Belfast and Londonderry.
Disruption: The government has been warned that republican groups could launch attacks on the day of the Royal Wedding between Kate and William on Friday
The suspected republican attacks would overshadow the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey.
'Recent intelligence points to a terror attack in Northern Ireland on the day of the wedding. This is a very real threat and described as being highly likely,' a source told the Daily Mirror.
The threat reportedly emerged in a briefing from MI5 to the Home Office. The groups are said to include the Real IRA, the Oglaigh na hEireann and 'the IRA'.
The source added: 'It is not believed the groups yet have the capability to launch an attack on London, which on Friday would cause chaos.
Secure: Strict measures have been put in place around Westminster Abbey in London but attacks elsewhere in the UK would overshadow the day
'However an attack would send out a clear message that there is a gathering and substantial threat from dissident republican groups in Northern Ireland and Ireland.'
The terror alert comes after PC Ronan Kerr, 25, was killed in an explosion near his home in Omagh earlier this month.
The young policeman had recently completed his training when he was targeted by republican groups.
Last week a group calling itself 'the IRA' claimed responsibility for the murder.
Politicians have feared that the killing could spark a new wave of attacks similar to what was seen in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s.
MI5 have since launched high-level surveillance to monitor any developments across the region.
It is understood that 'the IRA' group has vowed to embark on a bombing campaign with booby traps and command-wire explosions.
The last time that England suffered an Irish republican attack was in 2001 when car bombs exploded at the BBC TV Centre and Ealing Broadway station in London.
Explosion: A dissident group calling itself 'the IRA' has claimed responsibility for the car bomb killing in Omagh earlier this month
Killed: PC Ronan Kerr died in the explosion near his home
Although the terror groups lack the strength to target London on the day of the Royal Wedding, they could cause significant disruption with bombings elsewhere in the country.
Government chiefs are understood to have had a secret meeting with security chiefs in recent days in which they were briefed on the terror threat.
British security officers are planning to use a raft of measures in preparation for the royal wedding on Friday.
London’s Metropolitan police said it plans to use random stop-and-searches, closed-circuit television cameras and ‘pre-emptive policing’ to prevent any possible security threat in around Westminster and Buckingham Palace during the nuptials.
Pre-emptive policing allows police to detain someone on terror charges if police believe they are a threat, even if they do not have evidence at hand.
The car bombing in Northern Ireland earlier this month provoked condemnation from politicians around the world.
Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said that people who believed that terror attacks could re-unite Ireland were living in a 'fool's paradise'.
David Cameron described the bombing as 'wicked and cowardly' by people who wanted to drag Ireland into its 'dark and bloody past'.
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