UK Raises Terror Threat to Severe After Stabbings

British authorities raised the national terrorism threat level to severe, the second-highest on its five-tier scale, on Thursday, prompting the United States Embassy in London to issue a security alert on Friday urging American citizens in the United Kingdom to exercise increased caution.

The upgrade by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, an independent body within the domestic intelligence service MI5, followed a knife attack the previous day in Golders Green, north London, where two Jewish men, aged 34 and 76, were stabbed in separate incidents minutes apart. Metropolitan Police declared the stabbings a terrorist incident and arrested Essa Suleiman, a 45-year-old British national born in Somalia, charging him with two counts of attempted murder related to the Golders Green attacks and a third count from another incident in London that morning. Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley noted that Suleiman had a history of serious violence and mental health issues, and had been referred to the government's Prevent counterterrorism program in 2020, though the case was closed that year.

MI5 stated that the threat level change from substantial to severe reflected a broader, sustained...