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Terror risk 'critical'
01/07/2007 12:02 - (SA)
Glasgow - British police searched houses near Scotland's second city Glasgow on Sunday after what they described as a "terrorist" attack on its airport that they linked to two failed car bombings in London.
Britain raised its security level to "critical" - meaning the risk of terrorist attack is imminent - following the airport incident, in which a four-wheel-drive vehicle slammed
into the main entrance of the terminal and burst into flames.
Two men, one badly burned and in critical condition, were arrested in Glasgow after the attack, which police described as a "terrorist incident".
Two more people were arrested later on a motorway in northern England.
Wearing white overalls, police in Glasgow searched a number of houses near the airport in an airport about 10km west of the city, in the town of Houston.
"We can confirm that, as part of the ongoing enquiry into the incidents at Glasgow airport and London, a number of houses in the Renfrewshire area are being searched," police said.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who took over from Tony Blair on Wednesday, convened a meeting of Britain's top security committee to discuss how he would deal with the first big test of his leadership.
Britain's Home Office (interior ministry) raised the national security alert level to "critical", the highest ranking and one which indicates further attacks are expected imminently.
The green Jeep Cherokee was driven at speed into the glass door of the airport terminal in Glasgow.
Glasgow airport handles most international flights to and from Scotland.
The attack came barely 36 hours after police thwarted a possible al-Qaeda plot in London in which two cars loaded with fuel, gas canisters and nails were left in the centre of the
capital poised to detonate.
"I can confirm that we believe the incident at Glasgow airport is linked to the events in London yesterday," the top police officer in the Glasgow area, Willie Rae, told reporters.
"There are clearly similarities and we can confirm that this
is being treated as a terrorist incident."
Rae said the badly burnt man was found to have a "suspect
device" hidden on his body. The hospital had to be evacuated
briefly while the device was inspected.
Reacting to media reports that the device was a suicide
belt, Strathclyde Police said on Sunday it was not believed to
be an "improvised explosive device".
US tightens security
Also on Sunday, London's Metropolitan Police said they had
arrested two people "in connection with the events in London and
Scotland on the 29th and 30th of June".
A caller to BBC television said he had been in a car in the
county of Cheshire, on a motorway which links London with
Glasgow, when traffic had been brought to a halt by unmarked
police cars in all three lanes.
The man, named as Peter Whitehead, said he saw a woman in
what he called Muslim dress and two men in suits step out of a
car which had pulled to the side of the motorway.
The Metropolitan Police said no further details of the
arrests were available.
In July 2005 four British Islamists blew themselves up on
London's transport system and killed 52 commuters.
In Glasgow, witnesses described those arrested as Asian men.
"It (the car) raced across the central reservation and went
straight into the building," said taxi driver Ian Crosby outside
the terminal. The airport was shut down following the incident.
In London, police scoured hours of CCTV footage and extra
squads were deployed on the streets after the discovery in the
early hours of Friday of the vehicle packed with up to 60 litres
of fuel, several gas canisters and a large quantity of nails.
A mobile phone, which security experts believed might have
been a detonation device, was left inside the fume-filled car.
A second Mercedes packed with gas and nails was later found
to have been parked just a few hundred yards from the first.
The airport in Liverpool, north-west England, was closed on
Saturday because of a suspect vehicle.
In Kennebunkport, Maine, the United States announced it was
boosting security at airports nationwide, although the overall
US terrorism threat level would remain the same.
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