Al Qaeda planning devastating “cyber jihad” against the West

The UK government has warned that Al-Qaeda is using online technology to plan attacks in pursuit of a "cyber-jihad".

According to the government, the terrorists' use of social media to disseminate information and radicalise people was "commonplace" and there was evidence of extremist groups seeking "to invade Facebook".

Home secretary Theresa May said the UK would need to respond to this threat, even as she stressed that Osama bin Laden's death had considerably weakened al-Qaeda.

She said crack units had been deployed by the extremists to target key computer systems and these are using Google Earth and Street View for planning atrocities.

The warnings came as May unveiled the government's new counter-terrorism strategy. According to senior security officials, cyber-terrorism would become an ever growing threat and according to a source, though currently the incidents are few and far between but it pointed to what was in store.

According to the 123-page counter-terror blueprint, a special unit - the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigades for Electronic Jihad - launched several attacks on computers last year. The document added: "Since the death of Osama Bin Laden, al-Qaeda has called not only for acts of lone or individual terrorism but also for cyber jihad."