Bin Laden Death Is Cause for Vigilance: UK Foreign Secretary

British Foreign Minister William Hague and his Egyptian counterpart Nabil Elaraby (R) talk together prior to meeting with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi head of the Egyptian Armed Forces Supreme Council in Cairo on May 2, 2011. (Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

While Prime Minister David Cameron congratulated President Obama and those involved in the death of Osama bin Laden on Monday, May 2nd, the UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague urged heightened vigilance in the coming days.

Speaking on BBC radio’s Today programme, he said that “there may be parts of al-Qaeda that will try to show that they are still in business in the coming weeks, as indeed some of them are”.

“I have already this morning asked our embassies to review their security, to make sure that vigilance is heightened, and I think that will have to be our posture for some time to come. So this is a very serious blow to al-Qaeda. But like any organisation that has suffered a serious blow, they will want to show in some way that they are still able to operate.”

The UK-based Islamic group “Muslims Against Crusades” echoed the Foreign Secretary’s words. Its spokesman Anjem Choudary said in a statement: “Rather than dampening the spirits of those who are today engaged in Jihad physically around the world and who considered Sheikh Usama Bin Laden as their Ameer [chief], his death will merely act as an incentive to prove to the world that the death of anyone will not affect them.”

He predicted an increase in mujahideen activities throughout the world. “It is the nature of Islam that it is not reliant upon any individual for its inevitable dominance and its incumbent victory over disbelief,” he added.

Some commentators asked whether disposing of bin Laden’s body at sea without independent verification of his identity was the best strategy for the United States. Xenia Dormandy, senior fellow at leading UK think tank Chatham House, said in an article on the Chatham House website: “We are told that bin Laden was buried at sea. This will no doubt lead to doubts among many of his supporters that his death is really true. But the US logic – to prevent there being a shrine created to him – is probably sound.”

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the UK’s Muslim think tank the Ramadhan Foundation, said in a statement that “it would have been more suitable for him to be captured alive and put on trial in an international court for the crimes he has committed. Victims of terrorism by Al Qaeda should have had the chance to see him brought to justice.”