THE BOMBER ; Car Suicide Gang Blitz Scots Airport Hero Cop Takes on Human Fireball

Jul 01, 02:35 AM

Current Headlines: A HERO off-duty policeman uses a fire extinguisher to hose down a suicide bomber who attacked Glasgow Airport yesterday.

Two men triggered a fireball after trying to smash their blazing Cherokee Jeep into the main terminal packed with holidaymakers.

The car was laden with gas canisters but failed to ram its way through after getting caught on bollards. Our exclusive picture shows the attacker in a boiler suit and plastic bags over his feet instead of shoes - the typical uniform of a suicide bomber.

He and another man drove the Jeep towards the main terminal then jumped from the vehicle and set themselves alight. Seconds later, an explosion rocked the building.

Passengers fled for their lives as the off duty officer grabbed an extinguisher to try and put out flames.

At one point, the terrorist started hitting the officer screaming: "It's a bomb, it's a bomb."

Two on-duty policemen arrested him and he was taken under armed guard to hospital.

His accomplice ran into the building brandishing two firebombs before being wrestled to the ground.

Police confirmed two men had been arrested following the first terror attack on Scottish soil. It was not clear if it was linked to Friday's attempted car bombing in London.

The terror attack happened at 3.15pm yesterday - the first day of the school holidays when 35,000 people were expected at the terminal.

Eye-witnesses spoke of a terrifying chain of events which began with the dark green Jeep crashing up the pavement just along from the international arrivals door.

It got stuck on a road sign as the driver, an Asian male, tried frantically to free it and ram it through the doors.

Businesswoman Sally Cameron, 36, of Broughty Ferry, had just arrived to collect visitors from Canada.

She said: "It was like something from a horror movie. We watched in disbelief as one of the men carrying a petrol can in each hand and totally ablaze charged at the departure area.

"He was kicking out at people and was a human fireball. Then he collapsed to the ground on all fours and we watched as he burned for fully two minutes. He must be dead, Nobody could have survived that."

Taxi driver Kenny Barnes, 42, said: "I knew it had to be a terrorist attack - nobody could possibly drive into the front of the building unless they wanted to.

"I watched the guy burning. He was moving away on fire and he still tried to attack a policeman. The police were shouting at him 'get down, get down'. I was convinced the terrorist was trying to detonate something.

"He kept trying to get to the back of the jeep. He was on fire and he was still desperately trying to get into the boot.

"There were another two explosions after they got him down on the ground - I don't know if it was gas cylinders or petrol.

"People all around were in tears and shouting and screaming at the man to lie down. An off-duty cop was hosing him down with a fire extinguisher and other people were shouting, 'let him burn.'

"He wasn't interested in being saved, he wanted to die and take all of us with him. The police officer was a really brave guy. That jeep could have exploded at any time and he was still trying to save the guy's life."

"After the jeep smashed into the building passengers came to see what had happened and then people just started to run away. I think they were in shock - people took a couple of minutes to actually realise what was happening. Then the police started toshout for everybody to get back."

Roads around the airport were shut off and flights suspended until further notice. The actual terminal building was badly damaged in the attack. Firemen battled knee deep in foam to contain the blaze.

A Home Office spokesman said that the official security alert level remained at "severe", as it has been for some time.

Last night Glasgow Airport remained closed - and Edinburgh, Blackpool and Newcastle airports were closed to cars.

Paisley Royal Infirmary's accident and emergency department was closed as the injured bombers were brought in.

Asource said: "We gather that two men are being treated, but we don't know the extent of their injuries. Word spread very quickly of who was in the hospital."

Glasgow is the busiest of Scotland's international airports, with 8.8million passengers a year and an average 265 flights in and out daily.

PANIC AT THE AIRPORT

AT 3.11pm two Asian men ram a L-registered Jeep Cherokee into the front of Glasgow Airport. The jeep is already alight and the men keep forcing the vehicle into the building in a bid to break through. Security guards on the scene try to help the two men,believing they have had an accident.

THE men jump from the car and start fighting with guards. One shouts "It's a bomb, it's a bomb" and in the ensuing panic both men, described as Asian, with poor English, set themselves on fire. The jeep explodes and one of the men is engulfed in flame.He runs into the departures building clutching a gas canister in each hand. He collapses on the concourse where stunned passengers watch him burn.

THE second suicide bomber, still outside, tries frantically to reach the back of the Jeep as an off-duty police officer hoses him down with a fire extinguisher.

TO shouts of "let him burn" the man is hosed down but afterwards tries to fight with him as the cop and others wrestle him to the ground and arrest him.

AIRPORT security staff run through the building telling people to get out and leave their luggage as armed police and fire services race to the scene. Tens of thousands of passengers - including children - are left stranded on the first day of the schoolholidays.

THE attack is foiled as the Jeep failed to explode on impact and the men were not able to trigger their device thanks to the heroics of passengers and police.

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond speaks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scotland is effectively "locked down" as airports all over the country start turning passengers away.

POLICE forensics officers attend at the hospital treating the injured suicide bomber as officers all over Scotland are placed on high alert for further attacks on Scottish soil.

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