Authors: John Mannion
‘The situation is changing by the minute, Prime Minister,’ he responded. ‘The information we are receiving from Thames Valley Police is that a number of gunmen, of unknown allegiance, have randomly opened fire in the centre of Oxford. There has also been an explosion, which I understand has rendered the local police station non-operational. The Chief Constable has taken personal command of the situation as Gold Command and she has requested urgent assistance from neighbouring Forces; including armed response teams. The Met, Hampshire, etc, are responding to this request and armed units are deploying to the scene as we speak. Off-duty Thames Valley officers, including armed response unit personnel, are reporting back to duty.’
The PM listened intently to the Home Secretary’s update in solemn silence and deep thought. While mentally addressing his response to the information his Home Secretary was in the process of imparting to him, he was mentally visualising the horrific scenes now taking place in Oxford, not more than sixty miles from the capital. It was just a few months since the terror attacks which had taken place in London, culminating in the nationwide co-ordinated attack on nine nuclear power stations, and the country was still dealing with the aftermath of these horrors on both a national and personal level.
When the Home Secretary had completed his update, the Prime Minister gave instructions to his Defence Secretary:
‘This situation will require an immediate deployment of all available relevant military resources. Special Forces and anything else needed to end this. I have called for COBR to convene at 1pm and will be heading back to the capital now. Before COBR, I want you to press all the necessary buttons to get things moving with regard to the military response. I will see you both in COBR.’
As soon as the conference call ended, the Defence Secretary was on the line to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Fullerton, at his home in Berkshire.
‘Good day, General. In fact, not so good. The situation in Oxford. I presume you are aware of events there?’
General Fullerton responded, ‘I am, Secretary.’
The Defence Secretary continued, ‘I’ve just spoken with the Prime Minister. He’s called for COBR to convene immediately. Before heading there, I’ve been instructed to set the wheels in motion for a military deployment to Oxford. Get things going from your end, will you? You can bring me up to speed when we meet at COBR.’.
General Fullerton replied, ‘I’ll set those wheels in motion right away.’
The first police armed response unit arrived in Beaumont Street within ten minutes of the first reports of shooting. The two officers approached the hotel cautiously. Staff and guests were already evacuating the building in a panic. The officers evaluated the situation and reported back to the control room at Kidlington. The handful of unarmed colleagues available were ushering the public out of harm’s way. Smoke was billowing from shattered windows in the building, and screams of blind terror could be heard coming from within, interspersed with the crack of gunfire.
Someone was firing into the street from the hotel. There were screams as people hastened their retreat from Beaumont Street at the sound of this imminent threat. A police officer fell to the ground mortally wounded; the back of his skull was missing, blood flowed from the wound onto the now deserted street. More shots. The building was ablaze. More screams and shots from within. The armed officers had taken cover behind a parked van, across from the main entrance to the hotel. They were sending reports of the situation to the police control room and to other officers at the scene. The Fire and Ambulance Services were instructed not to approach the burning hotel. The officers’ radios were all the while relaying to them a word picture of the horror unfolding in the centre of Oxford. Hand-held terminals were transmitting a live TV feed from the Force helicopter, hovering over the city centre, to the armed officers deployed to the scene. The two armed officers in Beaumont Street looked at each other momentarily. One of them muttered:
‘I knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened in this country. I’ve been saying it since I was a probationer twenty years ago. The day of an unarmed police force has long passed its sell-by date.’
The two armed officers could only wait for back-up, observe and report the horrifying developments unfolding before their eyes. There were only the two of them at the scene. With fire now raging in the premises, and an unknown number of terrorists still inside, it would have been worse than suicide to enter the hotel. It would have been pointless and stupid. Their unarmed colleagues had set up a cordon to ensure nobody came into harm’s way; this included fire and ambulance service personnel. They waited, weapons trained on the building, to provide cover to any fleeing guests and staff, and to prevent the escape of any terrorist.
The first armed police units arriving in the city centre were hampered by the fleeing mass of humanity on the streets. The situation they encountered upon their arrival was one of utter confusion. It was not only the situation on the streets which was confusing. The orders they were receiving, or not receiving, were often contradictory or not relevant to their deployment. The situation was fast moving. The terrorists were constantly on the move. Shots and explosions could be heard coming from a number of city centre locations. Shots were fired at the police helicopter. Large numbers of civilians would suddenly appear from nowhere, fleeing a gunman; real or imaginary. Armed units arriving from neighbouring police forces were not familiar with the environment they found themselves in, and there were not enough local officers available, armed or unarmed, to liaise with these newly arrived units. Local officers were busy saving lives, ushering the public out of harm’s way. Gold Command decided to hold back the neighbouring armed units to form a perimeter around the city centre to contain the situation. Her own armed assets covered the flight of the retreating masses from the killing zone.
At 1pm COBR convened. Present at the meeting were the Prime Minister, who had returned to the capital from his country retreat at Chequers, where he had planned to spend a peaceful Easter Holiday weekend; the Home Secretary; the Chancellor of the Exchequer; the Secretary of State for Defence; the Head of the Joint Intelligence Committee; the Director of the Security Service (MI5); the Head of Terrorism and Allied Matters (TAM) for the Association of Chief Police Officers; the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Fullerton; and the Head of the Defence Intelligence Staff.
The Prime Minister called the assembly to order and immediately got down to business.
‘Can we have an update on the situation in Oxford, Home Secretary?’
The Home Secretary cleared his throat and responded,
‘The situation in Oxford is still developing and is, by its nature, confused. Police reinforcements from neighbouring Forces have been requested and are now starting to arrive in the city. Military assistance is being dispatched. The Defence Secretary will update us on the military response. There have been many casualties, dead and injured. No information on numbers is available. The city centre is being evacuated and appeals are being broadcast on all radio and TV stations for people to stay away from Oxford at this time. Oxford railway station has been evacuated and closed, and the rail line running through the city has been shut. This is causing severe disruption to rail travel throughout the southern half of the country. Road blocks have been set up around the centre of the city. The Park and Ride facilities around the town are being used as evacuation centres. Additional public transport has been laid on to assist with the evacuation. Local hospitals are under severe strain coping with the situation, and the ambulance service is moving casualties to hospitals in adjoining counties in order to relieve the pressure and to provide more specialist care as required. Our unarmed police service has found itself in unchartered territory. Nothing on this scale has been encountered in this country before. It would be true to say that, had this situation occurred in London, the forces of law and order would have been much better equipped to cope. Unarmed officers have endeavoured to direct the terrorised masses in their flight from this horror, but have been unable to confront the perpetrators as armed officers would have been able to do. Had armed officers been more readily available, it is beyond doubt that many lives would have been saved.’
At the Ministry of Defence the atmosphere was electric as the top brass, officers and support staff organised the military response to the terrorist attack. The SAS Headquarters at Credenhill, Hereford was a hive of activity, as the men of the CT Squadron readied themselves for action. At the RAF Odiham and RAF Benson helicopter force bases, air and ground crews were preparing for the airlift of the SAS troopers to Oxford.
At the Permanent Joint Headquarters at Northwood, on the outskirts of London, senior officers from all three services and their support staff had reported for duty and were busy organising military assets at the various sites across Southern England, to ensure a cohesive, adequate and speedy response to the emergency unfolding before them on TV screens. General Ainsworth, Director Special Forces, spoke:
‘It’s bloody mayhem! The local police are totally overwhelmed and under-resourced to fight street combat on this scale. Their management is totally out of its depth. Mumbai and recent shooting incidents in this country should have informed their thinking. Focused their minds. Many amongst us have warned for years that a rethink of the unarmed status of the civil police in this country needed to be done. Well, it bloody well will be now! Now that it’s too late. Anyway, I just needed to get that off my chest. Where are we with the helicopters, gentlemen?’
An RAF Squadron Leader responded,
‘Helicopters deployed from RAF Benson and Odiham should be arriving at Credenhill any time now. These assets include Chinooks, which will allow for speedy deployment of Special Forces personnel and their equipment. A park located close to the city centre is being secured by local police as we speak.’
General Ainsworth responded thoughtfully, ‘Excellent! Put me through to the MOD and COBR.’
General Ainsworth appeared on screen in both the MOD Building in Whitehall in the centre of London and in COBR.
‘Prime Minister. Military assets should be in Oxford within the hour. One troop of sixteen SAS soldiers is already on the way, with another fifty or so to follow. Do you have an up-to-date SITREP?’
The Prime Minister responded, ‘Thank you, General. I’ll pass you over to General Fullerton.’
The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Fullerton spoke:
‘The situation in Oxford is fluid and confused. We are getting live reports from police units deployed. This is a three-pronged attack. One, a suicide bomber setting off an explosive device in a van outside a city centre police station. This incident is under control at this time. There are two other incidents ongoing. One involving a group of armed terrorists inside a burning city centre hotel. This situation is being contained by armed police units. The third incident is much more challenging. A group of armed men, we think six in number, is in the main shopping area, firing randomly and using explosives against anyone they come across. The city centre is now sealed off by armed police units from Thames Valley Police, with assistance from neighbouring Forces. But there is no control within the police cordon.’
General Ainsworth responded, ‘I’m heading over to Oxford. I’ll be taking charge of the military operation personally.’
Lieutenant Steve Zaslawski and his squadron colleagues were rehearsing their roles in a siege scenario at the SAS Headquarters, Credenhill, just outside of the city of Hereford. Steve, a member of the US Army Special Forces, was now sixteen months into a three year secondment to the British Special Air Service Regiment. His SAS Squadron – one of four – had, less than four months earlier, assumed the role of the CT (Counter Terrorism) Squadron, on standby to deal with any terrorist threat. His Squadron had assumed this role in the wake of the tragic events of December the previous year, which saw heightened terrorist activity in London followed by the
coup de grace
; the attack on Britain’s nuclear power stations. Captain Matt Thomas, Lieutenant Steve Zaslawski’s troop commander, halted the training session.
‘Gentlemen, sorry to interrupt. I have just been informed that a situation has developed in Oxford that requires our immediate attention. There are three incidents in progress in the city. A hotel has been occupied and set on fire near the city centre. An unknown number of persons are reported trapped inside. Armed police units are at the scene and are containing the situation. The city centre police station has been taken out in an explosion. Emergency services are dealing with the aftermath. We will be heading straight for the city centre, where the third incident is ongoing. An attack cell, reported to be six in number, is cutting a swathe through here, shooting and using explosives. Armed police have placed a cordon around this area. However, an unknown number of civilians are trapped inside this cordon. Our mission will be to go in, hunt down and neutralise this threat. We need to get there ASAP, so let’s get things moving. We don’t want to keep people waiting, do we?’
Steve Zaslawski responded, ‘No, Sir!’
Captain Thomas, Lieutenant Zaslawski and the fourteen other men of the troop set about implementing a well rehearsed plan, equipping and organising themselves for their immediate deployment to Oxford aboard the helicopters of 8 Flight Army Air Corps, attached to the SAS at Credenhill. They were the spearhead of the SAS force to be deployed to the stricken city. The three other troops, which made up the CT Squadron, would be on their way as soon as transport, in the shape of RAF Chinook and Merlin helicopters, arrived.
As the helicopters sped towards Oxford, the troop readied itself for immediate combat upon arrival. There would be no time to lose. The situation in the city was dire. They were receiving constant updates from the scene of the incident. Captain Thomas turned to Steve and said,