Airport, London Terrorism Linked

Jul 01, 11:46 AM

Current Headlines: By IAN STEWART

GLASGOW, Scotland -- In Gordon Brown's first days in office, a flaming Jeep Cherokee rammed into an airport terminal in his Scottish homeland, bomb squads darted across London to defuse explosives-laden cars and the government issued a chilling warning that further attacks are imminent.

The attempted attacks in London and Glasgow, which police say were linked, signaled the possibility of a coordinated campaign to derail Brown's new government. One expert said terrorists may have chosen to strike Scotland to deliver a personal message to the new prime minister, who is proud of his Scottish upbringing.

The green Jeep shattered glass doors at Glasgow Airport's terminal entrance Saturday, stopping within yards of travelers at check-in counters. The driver and passenger were arrested -- one of them after he was set ablaze -- and five bystanders were injured, none seriously.

The chaos in Britain over the past two days has also raised fears that the type of car bomb attacks commonplace in Iraq have reached Europe.

Late Saturday, Britain raised its security alert to critical, the highest possible level, indicating more attacks may be imminent.

Saturday's incident came after police foiled a car bomb plot early Friday in central London, discovering explosives packed into a Mercedes outside a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus and another car parked nearby.

Glasgow police Chief Willie Rae said the incidents were connected and that a "suspect device" was found on a man wrestled to the ground by officers at the airport and hospitalized with severe burns. Rae would not say if the device found on the man was a suicide belt.

Police later arrested two more suspects in the plots in Cheshire county in northern England, Scotland Yard said.

"We believe the incident at Glasgow airport is linked to the events in London yesterday," Rae said. "There are clearly similarities and we can confirm that this is being treated as a terrorist incident."

One British security official said methods used in the airport attack and Friday's thwarted plots in London were similar, with all three vehicles carrying large quantities of flammable materials.

Police and the British intelligence agency MI5 had no warning of a plan to attack Scotland, but they have monitored suspected terrorists and plots there. It was not yet clear whether there was an international element to the planning or funding of the attacks, the official said.

The new terror threat presents Brown with an enormous challenge just three days after taking office, and comes at a time of already heightened vigilance ahead of the anniversary of the July 7, 2005, London transit attacks.

"I know that the British people will stand together, united, resolute and strong," Brown said Saturday in a televised statement. He defended raising the alert level, which has not been at critical since the August 2006 plot to blow up several trans-Atlantic flights.

David Capitanchik, a terrorism expert at Robert Gordon University said Glasgow could have been selected for an attack because Brown now leads the country -- and referred to his upbringing there as he took office.

"Gordon Brown has made a deal about his school, his constituency and so on," he said. "So Scotland becomes more of a target than it ever was."

One former top British security official said terrorists also appeared to be trying to take advantage of the inexperience of the new government.

"This is a very young government, and we may yet see further attacks," Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, former head of Britain's joint intelligence committee, told Sky News television.

The Jeep sped toward Glasgow's main airport terminal shortly after 3 p.m., hitting security barriers before crashing into the glass doors and erupting into an orange fireball, witnesses said.

The Cherokee struck the building directly in front of check-in counters, where dozens of passengers were lined up, police said.

Lynsey McBean, a witness at the terminal, said the driver kept trying to push the car forward after it got stuck, and "the wheels were spinning and smoke was coming from them."

Police subdued the driver and passenger, both described by witnesses as South Asian -- a term used to refer to people from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries in the region. Witnesses said one of the men was engulfed in flames and spoke "gibberish" as an official used a fire extinguisher to douse the fire.

Glasgow police said five bystanders were treated for injuries -- one of whom was hospitalized with a hurt leg.

The airport was evacuated and all flights suspended. Police said Liverpool Airport and roads around Edinburgh were also closed.

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