UNITED KINGDOM: British police arrest five people after car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow

Record ID: 351904

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: British police arrest five people after car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow
  • Date: 1st July 2007
  • Summary: (BN10) GLASGOW, SCOTLAND, UK (JULY 1, 2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL/ POLICEMAN OUTSIDE HOSPITAL
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA48KZ0NRX7XM7ZZJ10XI59F4QY
  • Story Text: British police arrested a fifth person on Sunday (July 1) after a fuel-filled jeep was rammed into Scotland's busiest airport, a terrorist attack that police said was linked to two failed car bombings in London.
    Three of the arrests were in northern England and followed the detention of two men, who witnesses described as Asian. They were seized on Saturday immediately after they slammed a Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow airport and set the vehicle ablaze.
    The attack, which caused five slight injuries and damaged the airport entrance, came barely 36 hours after two car bombs loaded with fuel, gas canisters and nails were found on the busy streets of central London primed to detonate.
    Following the series of threats, Britain raised its national security level to "critical", meaning the risk of another attack was imminent, and increased security at airports.
    At Glasgow airport, efforts were being made to try and resume normal operations,
    "There's a determination here at Glasgow to get this airport back up and running. We will not allow as quickly as possible. We will not allow Glasgow airport to be brought to its knees," BA's Scottish communications director told Reuters.
    Many passengers lined up patiently outside the airport awaiting news on pending travel times.
    "What can you do about it? There's other people in worse positions who have experienced it already. For us it's just a blip, it's just a holiday that might not happen. For other people it's been a lot worse," said Walter Taylor
    "Well, at the end of the day they didn't succeed because they didn't kill anyone, they just hurt themselves. You know, and they are not going to stop people from travelling," added Yvonne Taylor
    In a television interview on Sunday (June 1) Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged vigilance,
    "We will have to be constantly vigilant, we will have to be alert at all times, and I think the message that's going to come out from Britain and from the British people is that as one, we will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life," said Brown.
    Brown, himself a Scot who took office only last Wednesday (June 27), gave a sombre appraisal of the terrorist threat facing Britain.
    "We want to see greater peace and security in Iraq and Afghanistan and of course making progress in the Middle East in Palestine and Israel will make a difference but I think anybody I talk to, a leader in any part of the world knows that we're in the business of dealing with a long-term threat, a sustained threat, one that is unrelated in detail to one specific point of conflict in the world, that is a general view that is held by a group of terrorists, extremists about the shape of the world they want to create," he said.
    Outside Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city, police in white body suits searched houses in a town a short drive from the airport and set up forensic tents behind one building.
    Neighbours said two Asian men had moved into one of the houses a month ago but had kept very much to themselves.
    Police said the three arrests in the north of England were related to both the Glasgow and the London attacks, but did not provide further details. Two of the arrests were made overnight on a major highway and the third was made later on Sunday.
    Of the two men detained at Glasgow airport, one was badly burnt and listed in critical condition in hospital.
    Britain has seen an increase in terrorism-related attacks since the Sept. 11 strikes on the United States and since it joined U.S. forces in invading Iraq in 2003. Some analysts believe the latest attacks may be designed to exert pressure on Britain to withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
    Brown convened a meeting of top security chiefs to discuss measures to handle the first big test of his leadership.
    In Glasgow, 400 miles (600 km) north of London, witnesses said two men intent on causing harm raced their green Jeep Cherokee into the glass doors of the airport terminal before dousing it in petrol and engulfing it in flames.
    Police said the attack was linked to the thwarted London car bombs but did not say how. The London plot bore the hallmarks of a previous al Qaeda plan to attack London with fuel-filled cars, and another militant plan to bomb a major night club.
    The series of plots come almost two years since the July 7, 2005 attacks on London's transport system, when four British Islamists blew themselves up and killed 52 commuters.
    British Muslim groups condemned the series of incidents and urged Muslims to cooperate with the authorities.
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