LONDON, (Reuters) – Senior military figures have called for a review of security measures after Prime Minister David Cameron narrowly escaped a possible Taliban attack during a recent trip to Afghanistan, a media report said yesterday.
The prime minister’s helicopter was forced to make an emergency diversion during a trip to see troops in the southern province of Helmand in June after it was suspected insurgents had gained knowledge of the trip.
Two conversations were intercepted by NATO intelligence services in which the Taliban were understood to be plotting an attack on a VIP called the “Big Commander”, the Times said.
The incident deepened concern about the increasingly sophisticated nature of the insurgents’ intelligence operation, the newspaper added.
No shots were fired and Downing Street played it down, but one Whitehall source was quoted as suggesting the threat was “much closer than anyone said at the time”.
Without quoting further military figures, the newspaper said options understood to be under consideration were media blackouts until the prime minister had left a war zone.
