The leader of Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) is planning a fresh wave of terror attacks against Britain and other European countries in revenge for the crushing defeats the Islamist terror group has suffered in Iraq and Syria, a leading Iraqi intelligence official has warned.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isil’s self-proclaimed Caliphate in Iraq and Syria, is said to be organising a number of “sophisticated attacks” against Western targets to boost the morale of jihadi fighters after the series of defeats the movement has suffered in places like Mosul and Raqqa.

In an exclusive interview with the Telegraph, Lahur Talabany , the head of Kurdish intelligence who has been heavily involved in the military campaign to liberate Mosul from Isil control, says a new generation of Islamist terror groups could emerge in Iraq if the country does not undertake radical political reform.

“Isil has lost a lot of land in Iraq and Syria, but this is not the end of Isil,” said Mr Talabany, 41, during a visit to London, where he is having a series of meetings with officials and ministers, including Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon.

Mr Talabany said that there were an estimated 500 British jihadists fighting with Isil at the height of the so-called caliphate’s influence in Iraq and Syria, but that the majority of them had been killed during the US-led coalition’s military campaign to destroy Isil.