UK on maximum alert after foiling three attacks

UK on maximum alert after foiling three attacks

	Published : Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:55 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK police raided homes and made a series of arrests as the government vowed to defy the 'evil' of terrorism and put the country on maximum alert following three failed attacks.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the UK faced the threat of Al-Qaeda attacks after a blazing car tried to ram into Glasgow airport's main terminal in Scotland and two attempted car bombings in London.

'We will not yield, we will not be intimidated,' Brown said in an interview with BBC television, adding: 'It is an act of evil in all circumstances.'

He added: 'While I don't want to comment on the police investigation that is ongoing, it is clear that we are dealing in general terms with people who are associated with Al-Qaeda in a number of incidents that have happened across the world.'

Police said they had searched a number of homes in the Glasgow region after the attack on the city's international airport yesterday and two attempted car bomb attacks in London Friday.

Two people in the blazing car were detained and anti-terrorism police said they had also arrested two people in Cheshire, in northwestern England, in connection with the failed attacks.

The arrests took place on a main Glasgow-to-London highway, the BBC reported.

Police said the airport attack was being treated as 'terrorism' and is linked to the double car bomb plot in London.

UK was put on a top-level 'critical' security alert ahead of the second anniversary of the July 7, 2005, suicide bombings in London in which 52 people and four suicide bombers were killed.

'Critical' is the highest on a five-level scale, and means another attack is expected imminently.

The latest attacks have become a major test for Brown's new government.

Liverpool's John Lennon airport was closed for a few hours after the Glasgow attack. Glasgow airport partially reopened today.

Two men described by witnesses as being of Asian appearance drove the flaming car into the front of Glasgow airport's main terminal.

The sport utility vehicle hit vehicle barriers around the main doors. 'If he'd got through, he'd have killed hundreds,' witness James Edgar told Sky News television.

Witnesses said one of the men, with his clothes on fire, tried to get away and was caught by passers-by. Both men in the car were detained.

Some minor injuries were treated in hospital. The burned man from the car was also transported to a hospital, which was briefly evacuated when a suspect device was found on his body, but police later said it was not explosive, the BBC reported.

The latest attacks began in the early hours of Friday, when two Mercedes cars packed with gas canisters and nails were abandoned in London's entertainment district.

Police launched a manhunt and news reports said closed circuit television images from streets around the scene had provided 'crystal clear' images of a man running away from one car parked outside a crowded nightclub.

The second car was left parked nearby, but it was given a parking ticket and towed away to a car pound. It was only later in the day that the explosives were found.

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