Business as Usual in London Despite Terror Threat

LONDON -- The threat posed by Islamic terrorism is as real in the United Kingdom as it is in other countries.

According to the metropolitan police commissioner, five Britons a week travel to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS. These British jihadists are one of the main reasons the country's terror threat level was raised to severe back in August.

CBN News traveled to London for a firsthand report on what this increased threat level means and how locals are responding.

In the U.K., a "severe" threat is the fourth highest of five levels. It means an attack is likely, but not imminent.

Here on the streets of London, business goes on as usual. The terror threat level isn't keeping anyone away, and locals say that for the most part, everything feels normal.

"We know it's a risk. We know it could be out there, but people are determined to live their lives, I think, and just not have it interfere with their lives," one Londoner, Baroness Elizabeth Berridge, told CBN News.

"[It] certainly doesn't appear to be affecting life here in London that much right now," another Londoner said.

"It's been quite a while since we actually had a terrorist attack, so most people are vigilant but it doesn't really affect their day-to-day lives," London resident Simon Barrett said.

Authorities say security services are very good at preventing attacks and Britons shouldn't overestimate the terror threat, but at the same time they warn against complacency.

With an alarming number of Western jihadists joining ISIS, its reach is no longer limited to the Middle East.

"Well there's about 500-600 Britons, mostly British Muslims, who have gone over to join ISIS and have declared allegiance for them," Professor Alan Johnson, editor of Fathom Journal, told CBN News.

Johnson is a former adviser to the Home Office on Islamic Extremism and Radicalization. He says that before ISIS radicalized them, British Muslims were useless when it came to actually carrying out an attack. Authorities stopped attempt after attempt. But this may no longer be the case when they return to the streets of London after spending time with ISIS.

"The concern is that these jihadis have been in a very permissive environment in which they've been able to hone the tools of their trade, their skills, including bomb making, so they may come back and be a lot less useless and more able to carry out attacks," Johnson explained.

"That's one of the concerns and most obviously they carry the kind of travel documents that would allow them to come back into the country, and they've declared allegiance to ISIS, which has the U.K. in its crosshairs," he added.

Still, the U.K. is not the only country in the crosshairs of ISIS. The rest of Europe and America are as well.