Reports: UK prisons alerted after hostage-taking attack blamed on Muslim extremist inmates

LONDON – British newspapers say that U.K. prisons are on the alert after a hostage-taking attack blamed on extremist Muslim inmates came days after an off-duty soldier was hacked to death on a London street.

An email circulated to high-security prisons warned that Sunday’s attack at Full Sutton prison in the northern England region of Yorkshire was linked to “radical Islamist extremism” and warned of an increased risk of attacks at other institutions.

Britain’s Ministry of Justice on Wednesday declined to comment on the email, which was quoted in newspapers including The Yorkshire Post and The Times.

The knife attack in London refocused public attention on the threat of al Qaida-inspired terrorism. One suspect is in custody, while another remains hospitalized.