British jihadi’s VJ Day plot to bomb the Queen in Central London

British jihadis plan to blow up the Queen next weekend at an event to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. The Mail on Sunday can reveal that police and MI5 are involved in a frantic race against time to thwart the assassination plot being orchestrated from Syria by Islamic State commanders. 

The extremists aim to strike on Saturday by exploding a deadly pressure cooker bomb during events in Central London to mark the 70th anniversary of VJ Day – Victory in Japan.

Sources have told this newspaper that a specific threat was made against the Queen, triggering an urgent review of security arrangements for next weekend’s events. Other members of the Royal Family, including Prince Charles, who is identified in intelligence reports as another possible target, are also due to attend. They will join Prime Minister David Cameron, assorted dignitaries, more than 1,000 veterans of the Far East campaign and their families, and serving members of the Armed Forces.

And with thousands of members of the public expected to line the streets around Whitehall and Westminster Abbey, police fear enormous potential for carnage. The plot is understood to involve a device similar to that used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which killed three people and injured more than 260.

Typically, having been warned about next week’s planned attack, the Queen indicated her determination to attend the event to ‘honour the fallen’.

Senior members of Scotland Yard’s Royal Protection branch, SO14, have been informed, along with SO1 Specialist Protection, the unit responsible for the security of the Prime Minister and any dignitaries considered to be ‘under threat from terrorist attack’.

The Home Office has also been made aware of the plot.

On Saturday, the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh – a veteran of the war in the Pacific – will first attend a service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square. From there dignitaries will move to Horse Guards Parade for a traditional military ‘drumhead’ service, a flypast and a wreath-laying ceremony before the set-piece VJ Day parade of veterans and current troops down Whitehall to Westminster Abbey.

All the events will be broadcast live on television by the BBC.

Although The Mail on Sunday understands that no arrests have been made, counter-terrorism officers are monitoring the plot’s development

Some intelligence reports suggest that the 2pm drumhead service in Horse Guards Parade, just half a mile from Downing Street, might be a specific target. Led by the Bishop to HM Armed Forces, the Right Reverend Nigel Stock, it will see drums draped with military colours used in place of an altar to replicate services held on the field of battle during the war.

Buckingham Palace spokesman said of the terror plot: ‘It is not something we would comment on.’ A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment.

As this newspaper disclosed, police and military chiefs have also drawn up secret plans for the deployment of troops in the event of multiple terrorist strikes. Codenamed Operation Temperer, the plans would see as many as 5,000 heavily armed soldiers put on the streets to keep key sites safe. And the authorities recently tested their preparedness in a major two-day operation called Exercise Strong Tower involving more than 1,000 police officers.

However, senior counter-terrorism figures believe it is a matter of when, not if, an attack succeeds in Britain and this latest plot is unlikely to be the last.

In a separate development this newspaper can disclose that British Special Forces are watching migrants in Calais and Dover to detain IS terrorists attempting to enter Britain.