There have been numerous publications of case study research focused on specific groups who use terrorism.⁶ A far smaller number examine terrorist behaviour in detail and often the concentration is on specific areas of a group’s organisation, its activities or perhaps on a single aspect of behaviour relating to a sample of individuals.⁷

Some examine the various tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) utilised by terrorist groups/cells to carry out preparations, identify targets and conduct attacks. These include publications examining the TTPs of specific terrorist groups, such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) or more generally those of particular types of...

The aim of this chapter is to set out the background and context of the six groups/cells in which all of the individuals involved in their terrorist activities operated. Individuals are also referenced here if it assists in achieving this, but a fuller and more detailed examination of the characteristics and behaviour of individuals across all the groups/cells is undertaken in Chapters Three and Four.

It should also be borne in mind that these six groups/cells are not the only ones to have attempted or carried out terrorist attacks in the UK. The first attempt came to light in November...

In order to put the subsequent analysis into context, the focus of the previous chapter detailed the histories and backgrounds of each of the six groups/cells. This chapter looks in greater detail at how the groups/cells and the individuals within them were organised to carry out their objectives. It examines the characteristics and behaviours of the groups/cells and the individuals operating within them in three main categories: their motivation and aims, their members and their leaders.

There is no doubt that the motivation driving the actions of all the six groups/cells was the form of violent Jihadist ideology espoused by...

This chapter moves on from the analysis of why and how the groups/cells and the individuals within them organised themselves in order to examine the TTPs they employed.

Group/cell members not only acquired information and propaganda relating to violent Jihad (see Table IPB. 18, Appendix C); at some stage, they became actively engaged in information and intelligence gathering activities into topics of direct relevance to committing terrorist acts (see Table IBG.1, Appendix B). A total of 18 individuals (47.4 per cent), operating within all six of the groups/cells, are known to have acquired information of this type, usually from Internet...

This research has examined the behaviours exhibited by six groups/cells and the individuals within them, all of whom were driven by the ideology of violent Jihadism and as a consequence carried out mass casualty attacks against the UK general public or prepared or conspired to do so. The research objective was to determine if any types of behaviour were particular to the conception, planning or preparatory phases of the attacks and, if this proved to be the case, to examine whether any of these behaviours could have indicated the ultimate terrorist intentions of the group/cell or individual exhibiting them. The...