WMD threat

Isil 'plotting biological and nuclear attacks on Europe'

There is a "justified concern" that Islamist fanatics in Syria and Iraq are trying to obtain substances of mass destruction such as biological, chemical and radiological weapons.

The terror group is also trying to develop new ways of avoiding security measures to carry out attacks such as bombs implanted in human bodies and hacking driverless cars, an international security conference in London was told.

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) is also feared to have obtained a stockpile of former Iraqi short-range missiles such as surface-to-air rockets.

Jorge Berto Silva, deputy head of counter-terrorism for the EC, said Isil had shown an interest in obtaining chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear (CBRN) materials.

It emerged after the Brussels terror attacks last month that the terror cell had been secretly filming a senior Belgian nuclear official outside his home, fuelling fears they were looking at ways of obtaining such substances.