ஸ்காட்லாண்ட் ஏர்போர்ட்டில் வெடிகுண்டு கார் மோதி வெடித்தது

லண்டனில் வெடிகுண்டுகள் நிறைந்த கார்கள் கிளபுக்கு வெளியே கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்ட பின்னர், ஒரு கார்நிறைய வெடிகுண்டுகளுடன் ஸ்காட்டிஷ் ஏர்போர்ட் கிளாஸ்கோவில் நுழைந்து வெடித்தது.

Car rams Scottish airport, explodes after London bombs
30 Jun 2007 18:20:51 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Alistair Bell

GLASGOW, Scotland, June 30 (Reuters) - A four-wheel-drive vehicle rammed into Glasgow airport's main terminal on Saturday and exploded in flames in what police described as an attack, a day after a twin car-bomb plot was foiled in London.

A Glasgow police spokeswoman said two people were arrested following the incident. Witnesses described those arrested as Asian men and said one of them was badly burnt.

Scottish police said they were not immediately connecting the attack to the foiled car bombs in London.

However, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said he would chair a meeting of Britain's top security committee later on Saturday to discuss events in Glasgow. The committee was also convened on Friday following the thwarted London plot.

In Kennebunkport, Maine, the United States announced it was boosting security at airports nationwide, although the overall U.S. terrorism threat level would remain the same.

From Glasgow, witnesses told the BBC the vehicle, a Land Rover or a Jeep Cherokee, exploded shortly after crashing into the glass front doors of the terminal, and said there was a heavy stench of petrol.

"It raced across the central reservation and went straight into the building," said taxi driver Ian Crosby outside the terminal.

Crosby said a stocky Asian man had got out of the car and was quickly wrestled to the ground by bystanders.

"It would appear to me to have been a deliberate attack. I think this was a terrorist attack," Crosby said.

Another witness said the occupants of the car had got out of the vehicle after they rammed it into the building and taken out cans of petrol that they then used to douse the car, before it went up in flames.

The airport was shut down following the incident.

In London, police scoured hours of CCTV footage and extra squads were deployed on the streets, particularly around landmarks such as the Houses of Parliament after Friday's failed car bomb attacks in the centre of the city.

An intensive counter-terrorism investigation was launched after the discovery in the early hours of Friday of a metallic green Mercedes 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.

Police said the two vehicles were clearly linked. Both bombs were quickly defused but, had they gone off, would have caused significant injuries and deaths, police said.

JULY 2005 ATTACKS

The foiled plot came to light two years after a coordinated attack by suicide bombers on London's transport system killed 52 commuters. It appeared to have similarities to an earlier plot in which an al Qaeda militant planned to blow up gas-filled bombs inside limousines in London.

Plans for policing of public events in the coming 10 days were reviewed to ensure public security, including a Gay Pride parade in London on Saturday, the Wimbledon tennis tournament and a concert for Princess Diana on Sunday.

"Appropriate policing will be in place for all events," a police spokeswoman said. "Safety and security is our number one priority."

Despite the continuing threat, tourists were stoical.

"You could be safe anywhere or you could be safe nowhere. It hasn't put me off travelling here," said Ivonne Geller, 49, a tourist from Mexico strolling outside the Tiger Tiger club.

"I just feel angry about the methods of these people who try to harm innocent people."

Intelligence sources believe there is a growing probability the London plot was hatched by an al Qaeda-style group.

"The feeling it is Islamist, rather than the other possibilities, is very quietly growing stronger," a source said.

The area of London where the car bombs were left, known as Haymarket, is one of the busiest in the capital and one of the most intensely monitored by CCTV surveillance. (Additional reporting by Luke Baker)