Blunket calls for calm

[CVX]

Home Secretary David Blunkett has moved to reassure the British public after unconfirmed reports that five al Qaida militants were on the run in the UK.

Mr Blunkett said the country was "maintaining a state of heightened readiness", although he made no specific comment on reports that members of a terror "cell" escaped capture during police raids earlier this week.

He also defended the government's tactics on publicising the terror threat.

Ministers had struck the right balance between keeping the public informed while causing no unnecessary alarm, he insisted.

"We are maintaining a state of heightened readiness and taking every feasible precautionary measure to protect British citizens, both here and abroad, consistent with the level of threat," said the Home Secretary.

"Advice would be issued immediately if the public needed to take specific action which could make them safer," he went on.

"There is also a difference between alerting the public to a specific threat and alarming people unnecessarily by passing on information indiscriminately.

"I think we have got the balance right."

Regarding this week's developments, Mr Blunkett said: "I am being kept fully informed of police operations.

"As these are ongoing I cannot comment further on them at this stage. What matters is that the relevant authorities are vigorously pursuing their investigations in order to protect the public."

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