Two men have been convicted of plotting an Islamic State-inspired gun attack intended to kill hundreds of Jews in England, in a case authorities say underscores a renewed threat from

violent Islamist extremism.

Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were found guilty at Preston Crown Court on Tuesday after prosecutors said they planned to use automatic firearms in a mass-casualty assault on the Jewish community. Investigators described the plot as among the most serious terrorist conspiracies uncovered in Britain in recent years.

Had the plan been carried out, it could have resulted in “one of, if not the, deadliest terrorist attack in UK history,” said Assistant Chief Constable Robert Potts, head of counter-terrorism policing in northwest England.

The trial began shortly after an unrelated deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester in October, heightening concerns over the safety of Jewish communities. The convictions also come little more than a week after a mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, in which 15 people were killed. Islamic State praised that attack, though it did not formally claim responsibility, fuelling fears of a resurgence in extremist violence.

European security officials say that while Islamic State no longer poses the territorial threat it once did, the group and its affiliates are again seeking to inspire attacks abroad, often through online radicalisation.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned last week that “signs of those terrorism threats are starting to grow again and escalate.”

Prosecutors told jurors that Saadaoui and Hussein had embraced Islamic State ideology and were prepared to die as “martyrs.” Saadaoui was arrested in May 2024 after arranging for two assault rifles, an automatic pistol and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition to be smuggled into Britain through the port of Dover.

According to the prosecution, Saadaoui intended to acquire additional weapons and hundreds more rounds of ammunition. Unbeknown to him, the man he believed was supplying the firearms was an undercover operative, meaning the plot never advanced beyond the planning stage.

The court heard that Saadaoui sought weapons similar to those used in the 2015 Bataclan concert hall attack in Paris, which killed 130 people, and that he idolised Abdelhamid Abaaoud, one of its coordinators. In messages presented to the jury, Saadaoui described the Paris attack as the largest operation since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Investigators said the communications showed Saadaoui was determined to maximise casualties and dismissed less lethal methods as insufficient.

“He believed it was his duty to kill as many Jewish people as possible,” Potts said, adding that the use of firearms was central to that aim.

Both men now face lengthy prison sentences as authorities continue to warn of an evolving and persistent extremist threat. Photo by Dun.can, Wikimedia commons.