armed with just a knife and a rented car, 52—year—old muslim convert khalid masood killed five peoplebefore he was finally shot dead by the police. precisely what compelled masood to launch one of the uk's worst terrorist atrocities is still unknown — investigations by the security services are ongoing. but we have uncovered evidence that agents of the so—called islamic state were plotting a near—identical terrorist attack using secret messaging services. for over two years, our undercover journalists have been posing as fictional characters committed tojihad. via social media and secretive messaging sites, they have been in near constant communication with senior players in isis. injuly 2016, we discovered that the terrorist organisation was touting on twitter and facebook for british muslims to stage attacks at specific london locations. we began conversing with one of their recruiters, who then invited us to chat privately on a secret messaging site. the authorities were fully aware of our contact with the terrorist organisation. i managed to track down an is recruiter online. his

khalid masood used a car to mow down pedestrians and then stabbed a policeman to death.dler, who had another target — "london bridge," he wrote. "use truck, axe, anything." we were directed to terrorist guides on the so—called dark web. one of them showed how to use a vehicle to kill people. the other showed how to use knives and home—made bombs for maximum impact. there was a description of how to create a fake suicide vest and how it can be used to stop the police from attacking you if you are standing next to civilians. the instructions bear all the hallmarks of the carnage nearly a year later at london bridge. a van, knives, fake suicide belts, and a stash of improvised bombs. hanif qadir, a former al-qaeda fighter now tackling radicalisation, is alarmed at how quickly encrypted communication can radicalise young britons. at that time, in 2002, it still took me six to seven months. if they'd have had this kind of technology, i would... i would put my hand on my heart and i would say, guaranteed, within a few weeks you could have somebody so enraged with revenge — tha