Security upgraded for Obama's state visit to London in wake of Bin Laden assassination

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 05:39 EST, 4 May 2011

Revenge fears: Security around Barack Obama's state visit to Britain is being stepped up

Security plans to protect U.S. President Barack Obama during his first visit to London have been stepped up in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The terror chief's assassination by American special forces at the weekend has raised fears that Mr Obama could be targeted in a revenge attack by extremists in London.

Mr Obama and his wife, Michelle, are due to begin a three-day trip to the UK on May 24, during which they will meet the Queen and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Police sources have said that the security operation to protect the man who authorised Bin Laden's killing will be alert to any possible attacks by Islamic extremists.

'Operations like these always look at the threat picture and clearly something like this changes that threat picture,' a Scotland Yard source told the Daily Telegraph.

Mr Obama is likely to be offered the use of a Scotland Yard close protection team, but it is understood that members of the President's security detail will apply to carry their own guns in London.

While making his way about the capital, the President will travel in his own armoured limousine - nicknamed 'The Beast'.

The eight-tonne, diesel-fuelled Cadillac, which goes wherever the President does, can be turned into a sealed panic room.

It is covered in reinforced steel plating designed to resist bullets, chemical attacks and even a small missile strike.

It is also equipped with 'flat run' tyres, which will work even if punctured by gunfire, a night-vision camera for evasive driving at night, and oxygen tanks.

The Beast: Bristling with communications devices and weighed down with special armour plating, the presidential limousine follows Mr Obama around the world

Mr Obama is expected to travel with an entourage of more than 500 people for his first visit to London. He and his wife will stay as guests of the Queen in Buckingham Palace.

Security plans are also being revised ahead of the Queen's forthcoming visit to Ireland, amid fears Al Qaeda could join forces with dissident republicans to try and kill or injure her.

Her Majesty's armoured plated car will have a mile-long police escort when she visits Dublin, Cork and Kildare on May 17 - the first visit by a British monarch to the republic since it won its independence from the UK.

A senior Garda source told the Daily Star: 'We are taking no chances.

'The visit to Ireland provides a perfect opportunity for Al Qaeda to work together with rogue republican terrorists who want to have the Queen killed or seriously injured and return Northern Ireland back to the violence which it has left behind.'