Holiday reps given ‘specialist terror training after ISIS plot to massacre Brits in Med hotels’
HOLIDAY reps are being given terror training as ISIS reportedly plot to massacre Brits at hotels across Europe.
The move comes amid fears of a fresh wave of attacks as jihadists return from Syria and radicalised prisoners are released from jail.
Earlier this year ISIS were forced out of their final stronghold in Syria - but their threat to the UK and beyond remains.
Even though ISIS have lost the territory they are still seen as a major global security threat with sister groups in Nigeria, Yemen, Afghanistan and the Philippines.
On Easter Sunday 2019, coordinated terrorist attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people, which included UK holidaymakers.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the atrocities but authorities in Sri Lanka blamed the blasts on two previously little-known local Islamist groups, National Thowheed Jamath and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem.
TERROR TRAINING
The heads of MI5 and MI6 have revealed jihadis could “target hotel locations to kill, injure or take hostage” people in tourist hot spots, the Daily Star on Sunday reported.
Workers, from firms such as Thomas Cook, Jet2 and First Choice, have reportedly been given specific hotels to look after and taught "survival skills" should terrorists strike.
Since 2017 workers have been trained to help combat terror attacks abroad.
Employees are shown videos as part of the government initiative from the National Counter Terrorism Security Office. It tells people to follow the official "run, hide, tell" guidance.
The three-minute videos give instructions on how to keep a look-out for suspicious individuals who might be terrorists scouting out resorts as potential tourist targets.
In June 2015 ISIS inspired gunman Seifeddine Rezgui killed 38 tourists including 30 Brits at a beach resort near Sousse in Tunisia.
MOST READ IN NEWS
Charlie Winter, of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London, said: “Now that ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, it will become more violent outside this area.
“It's a grim outlook, but we are likely to see more attempts at attacks, more regularly, for the foreseeable future.
"Sri Lanka was not a one-off. If anything, it was a test run.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.