by Martin Jefferies and Jamie Stephens

A Kent terrorism expert believes the world is unlikely to see another attack on the scale of 9/11.

Dr Frank Furedi, a professor of sociology at University of Kent in Canterbury, described the attacks on New York and Washington 10 years ago as "unique".

A group of 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger jets on September 11, crashing two of them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and a third into the Pentagon.

A fourth crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to take control of the aircraft.

But Dr Furedi said today's terrorists are more likely to work in smaller groups, carrying out attacks on the scale of the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005, the 2004 Madrid train bombings or the attacks on Mumbai in 2008.

He said: "9/11 itself was an unique event in that in brought together a number of factors and coincidences to create an incredibly destructive act.

"Usually an act of terror, even a very sophisticated one using aeroplanes, is unlikely to have this level of impact."

Asked whether the world is more secure since 9/11, Dr Furedi said: "In many ways, the world has been quite good at dealing with the specific threat of terrorism.

"There have been a number of terrorist incidents but when you look at the number of lives lost, the world we live in is reasonably safe and secure.

"What is a problem is that we've become very disoriented and confused because the very random, unexpected qualities of the attacks [in New York and Washington] have made us very sensitive to uncertainty.

"It's difficult for people to feel genuinely secure when they're thinking, 'if it can happen in New York, why can't it happen here?'"

Dr Furedi added: "The key challenge facing our society is to learn to live with terrorism - that's not to say we accommodate terrorism and give into it, but we need to accept it as a fact of life.

"The more we're able to manage these threats and adopt that kind of resilience, the more terrorism ceases to have the capacity to terrorise large numbers of people.

"We shouldn't speculate about what might happen, but instead adopt an attitude whereby we live with terrorism, minimise its effect and refuse to allow it to disrupt our lives."