Police warn ISIS is planning an 'enormous and spectacular' attack in the UK to wage war on Western lifestyles – just like the Paris terror atrocity 

ISIS is planning an 'spectacular' attack on British soil - and unprecedented numbers of women and teenagers are being arrested to stop one, the UK's top anti-terror officer warned today.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley has said the terror group is 'trying to build bigger attacks' around the world and the UK is one of its number one targets.

After the devastating series of suicide attacks on Paris last year where 130 died, a similar plot in Britain is a 'natural next step' for the terror group, he said.

The Met officer said that while in the past few years the Islamist group has called on would-be jihadis to attack police and the military, their plots are now broader 'plans to attack Western lifestyle'. 

Warning: Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, pictured, has said the terror group is 'trying to build bigger attacks' - and has its eye on the UK

Fears: ISIS has been using training camps like this one in Egypt, pictured last month, and Mr Rowley fears some will be sent to northern Europe to attack the West

He said: 'In recent months we've seen a broadening of that, much more plans to attack Western lifestyle, and obviously the Paris attacks in November. 

'Going from that narrow focus on police and military as symbols of the state to something much broader. And you see a terrorist group which has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we've seen foiled to date.'

He added: 'You see a terrorist group that whilst on the one hand has been acting as a cult to use propaganda to radicalise people to act in their name ... you also see them trying to build bigger attacks.'

Mr Rowley, who is the national policing lead for counter-terrorism, said that ISIS is trying to get supporters who have received military training in Syria into northern Europe to stage attacks. 

Last November Mr Rowley admitted a suspected jihadi is being arrested every day to prevent a Paris-style terror attack.

He also revealed officers are holding known extremists for 'anything we can' to 'disrupt' potential terror plots on home soil.

Today he said that in the past three years the number of arrests of terrorist suspects has risen by 57 per cent compared to the three years before that.

Around half lead to a charge. Last year just over three-quarters - 77 per cent - of those arrested were British nationals, 14 per cent were female and 13 per cent were aged 20 and under.

The number of girls and women and the number of teenagers is a new trend, Mr Rowley said.

'That would not have been the picture that one would have seen a few years ago. That is an indication of that radicalisation, the effect of the propaganda and the way the messages of Daesh (IS) are resonating with some individuals,' he added.

Tragedy:  An injured man near the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on November 13 last year - Scotland Yard says ISIS wants to carry out similar brutal attacks as it attempts to wage war on western culture

Scotland Yard has seen more than 20 families and around 50 young people go through family court proceedings over concerns about radicalisation in the past year.

Police are beginning to use trained psychologists who can provide advice both about how to deal with those at risk of being influenced by extremists, as well as terrorists in the event of an attack.

The number of trained firearms officers across the UK is also being increased in the wake of the Paris atrocities, which saw 129 people killed in co-ordinated attacks by extremists.

Official advice was issued at the end of last year to 'Run, Hide, Tell' if marauding gunmen are found to be on the loose - meaning get as far away as possible, hide, and if possible call the police.

Mr Rowley also revealed Britain had officers in France and Belgium after the attacks and was 'harvesting information' about ISIS terrorists who killed 130 in Paris 'to prevent attacks' in the UK.