U.K. Police Find Fuel, Nails and Detonator in Abandoned Car

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aBmqyTvD7OXY&refer=uk

June 29 (Bloomberg) -- A car recovered by authorities in central London today was packed with gasoline, gas containers and nails and would have caused ``significant injury or loss of life,'' said the head of London Metropolitan Police's anti- terrorism squad.

``It is obvious that if the device detonated, there could've been significant injury or loss of life,'' said Peter Clarke, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, in a press conference today. He asked the public for help in identifying the suspect seen running away, and said that investigators are reviewing closed-circuit television pictures.

Officers from the explosives squad disabled a detonator, he said, adding that it's too early to tell who might be responsible. Police had no intelligence on the attack, he said.

The vehicle was parked in the Haymarket, in the city's West End shopping and theater district, shortly before 2 a.m. today,

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Lysaght in London at blysaght@bloomberg.net


_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Al Qaeda suspected of massive bomb attack on nightclub

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465068&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

The threat of terror returned to London today after a car bomb was found outside a West End nightclub.

The apparent target was Tiger Tiger in Haymarket, where up to 1,700 people were inside on 'ladies night'.


It is feared the attack is the work of Al Qaeda militants, who plotted a similar attack on the capital's Ministry of Sound nightclub and Bluewater shopping centre. The British-born Al Qaeda gang was jailed last month.

Police were called shortly before 2am this morning and the immediate area was cordoned off while explosives officers made the 'potentially viable device' safe.

Police sources say the car bomb was a 'big device' which was potentially moments away from killing a 'significant number' of people.


Witnesses have told how a silver Mercedes appeared to swerve into some bins beside the road before it stopped and the driver walked away at around 1.30am. Security staff became suspicious and looked into the car and then alerted police.

According to the police there were at least 60 litres of petrol on the back seat and in the boot of the car in various sized containers. The boot was also packed with hundreds of nails.

The massive quantity of petrol coupled with several propane gas cylinders could have combined to create a massive explosion.

New Home Secretary Jacqui Smith warned the UK was "currently facing the most serious and sustained threat".

Mrs Smith added: "The Government, the police and the security services are doing everything possible to protect the public."

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command, said: "It is obvious that if the device had detonated there could have been significant injury or loss of life."

Mr Clarke sought to assure the public that the police were taking today's events seriously and doing their utmost to track down the perpetrator.

"We are doing absolutely everything we can in our power to keep the public safe," he said.

The anti-terror chief said they had had no indication or warning that a bomb might be planted.

At the moment there are no suspects who have been identified in connection with the car, he said.

But detectives already have a preliminary description of the vehicle driver who may well have been caught on the large number of CCTV cameras in the street.

The silver Mercedes has been taken from the crime scene by anti-terrorist officers

Intelligence sources in London said they were keeping an open mind on who was responsible for the car bomb.

But Islamic extremists are a likely suspect, particularly since a nightclub has been targeted.

Mr Clarke alluded to previous terrorist plots to blow up clubs. He said: "Nightclubs have been named by terrorists as potential targets."

In April five British Muslim men were jailed for life for plotting a wave of Al Qaeda bomb attacks - among their targets was Ministry of Sound nightclub in Southwark.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today's incident reminds us that Britain faces "a serious and continuous threat" and the public "need to be alert" at all times.

"I will stress to the Cabinet that the vigilance must be maintained over the next few days," he said.

New Home Secretary Jacqui Smith chaired a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee this morning before briefing the PM.

Security has now been raised around London to a level not seen since the 7/7 attacks. The alert comes a week before the second anniversary of the London bombings.

At the Houses of Parliament only full passholders - MPs, officials and lobby journalists - were allowed in and they were subjected to airport-style X-ray machines and body searches.

Anti-terrorist officers have long feared a suicide or car bomb attack on a crowded club or pub in the city.

They have also feared terrorists would mount an attack to coincide with Gordon Brown taking over as Prime Minister.

A massive police cordon has been thrown around The Haymarket in London's West End

A bar worker in Lower Regent Street said today: "I have been told there was a Mercedes driving along Haymarket at around 1.30am when the driver swerved and hit some bins outside Tiger Tiger.

"The driver then got out and legged it. The bouncers had a look at the car and they found gas cylinders and nails in the boot. And that's when they called the police."

Cleaner Akram Ahmed, 22, said: "We heard this was a suspicious car with what could be a bomb in it.

"I have been here since 5.30am and I can't get anywhere near work. It's a bit worrying to think that someone would want to blow up a place like Tiger Tiger. It's normally very busy on Thursdays and a lot of people could have been hurt."

Waiter Alfonso Guarez, 32, was trying to get to Coventry Street. He said: "This is crazy. I have been here since 5am this morning and nobody could tell me what's going on.

"We have heard that there seemed to be some kind of explosion and we saw a lot of police coming in and they put up a tent around the club."

The car, believed to be a silver Mercedes, was driven into bins and the driver ran off

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Tiger Tiger packed with dancers

Tiger Tiger attracts hundreds of young people every night. Spread over three floors, the 18,000 sq ft venue has capacity for 1,770 people with four bars, a restaurant and large dance floor.

Because of its central location near Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square it is a favourite of City workers and tourists.

It is open until 2am during the week and 3am on Saturday. One online reviewer said it was so busy on a Saturday that 'you could barely move'.

Another described its 'sheer maze effect' and 'very, very crowded dancefloor'.

The club in Haymarket was opened in 1998 by Chorion, the company behind the Trocadero. It was bought by Urbium in 2002, a company which had Tory leader David Cameron on its board of directors. He left in 2005.

Urbium owns 25 bars in London and chairman John Conlan, speaking after the 7/7 attacks, said: "We have been through 9/11 and the IRA's long campaign ... we have to take it on the chin."





_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Diffused Bomb in Central London Would Have Caused...

Diffused Bomb in Central London Would Have Caused Significant Damage

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,287292,00.html

A Mercedes car is loaded onto a removals truck in Haymarket Street, near Piccadilly, in central London, which contained a suspected car bomb.

A Mercedes car is loaded onto a removals truck in Haymarket Street, near Piccadilly, in central London, which contained a suspected car bomb.

LONDON — Police thwarted an apparent terror attack early Friday after an ambulance crew reported seeing a smoking car parked near Piccadilly Circus that turned out to be packed with gasoline, nails, gas cylinders, and a detonator.

The explosives — safely defused by a bomb squad — were powerful enough to have caused "significant injury or loss of life" — possibly killing hundreds, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

"Forensic staff are still examining the device, but once we know more about it, we'll know more about what type of individuals are behind this," a British security official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Officers were called to The Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew — responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. about an injury at a nearby nightclub — noticed smoke coming from the car, Clarke said.

A bomb squad was called to the scene, and manually disabled the bomb.

Early photographs of the silver Mercedes showed a canister, bearing the words "patio gas," indicating it was propane gas, next to the car. The back door was open with blankets spilling out.


_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Internet posting prior to car bomb attempt:

Internet posting prior to car bomb attempt: "Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017178.php

"Was London Bomb Plot Heralded On Web?" by Tucker Reals for CBS News:

Hours before London explosives technicians dismantled a large car bomb in the heart of the British capital's tourist-rich theater district, a message appeared on one of the most widely used jihadist Internet forums, saying: "Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed."

CBS News found the posting, which went on for nearly 300 words, on the "al Hesbah" chat room. It was left by a person who goes by the name abu Osama al-Hazeen, who appears regularly on the forum. The comment was posted on the forum, according to time stamp, at 08:09 a.m. British time on June 28 -- about 17 hours before the bomb was found early on June 29.

Al Hesbah is frequently used by international Sunni militant groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban, to post propaganda videos and messages in their fight against the West.

There was no way for CBS News to independently confirm any connection between the posting made Thursday night and the car bomb found Friday.

Al-Hazeen's message begins: "In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful. Is Britain Longing for al Qaeda's bombings?"

No.

Al-Hazeen decries the recent knighthood of controversial author Salman Rushdie as a blow felt by all British Muslims. "This 'honoring' came at a crucial time, a time when the whole nation is reeling from the crusaders attacks on all Muslim lands," he said, in an apparent reference to the British role in Iraq.

"We say to Britain: The Emir of al Qaeda, Sheikh Osama, has once threatened you, and he carried out his threats. Today I say: Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed," the message reads.

Speaking at a news conference Friday after the bomb scare in central London, the Metropolitan Police force's Counter-Terrorism Commander Peter Clarke said that officials had "no indication that we were going to be attacked this way".

Prior to the Thursday night posting by al-Hazeen, there had been no specific allusions to threats against London or Britain seen on al Hesbah, or any other major jihadist forums in recent weeks.

Several responses to the posting by other forum members expressed hope that an attack against London would be realized in the near future.

In response, al-Hazeen urges patience, saying, "Victory is very close, but you are just rushing it."
_________________
Psalm22:10-11 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mothers womb You have been My God.

LONDON:2ND CAR BOMB! Several Planned

The new thinking in Britain, "British official Lord John Taylor is now on Fox News calling for more “dialog with the Muslim community.” He doesn’t like the word “terrorists.” Prefers calling them “criminals.”

Second bomb contained similar materials to the first bomb found earlier today -- nails, gasoline, cylinders.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2007/06/london-2nd-car-.html

SEVERAL EXPLOSIONS WERE PLANNED USING MULTIPLE VEHICLES BY ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS IN LONDON BOMB PLOT, U.S. AND BRITISH OFFICIALS TELL ABC NEWS

Second car bomb found in London's Park Lane Daily Mail

A second car bomb has been defused in the heart of London sparking fears that others could be primed and parked around the capital.

The petrol, gas and nail bomb was discovered in a Mercedes towed into a car park pound beneath London's Park Lane after being found illegally parked in the West End of the city.

It was parked in Cockspur Street, just a few hundreds of yards from the first Mercedes. The car was ticketed at 2.30am and then taken to the pound at around 3.30am.

The discovery, in the early hours of Friday morning - at about the same time as the first car-bomb was found in Haymarket, left anti-terror detectives asking "How many more?" as thousands of officers searched the captial for other suspect vehicles - and for the terrorist cell.

Just hours before the deadly devices were found, an Islamic fanatic chillingly predicted a terror blast in London.

Car bomb: Third car searched

EMERSON ON THE LONDON CAR BOMBS

ABC News reported fumes inside the car were so thick that the robot's camera could not pierce them and send back a worthwhile image for the technicians to view. With robotic technology ruled out, law enforcement officials say, a bomb technician fell back on the oldest and riskiest technique in the manual -- hand entry. Donning an approximately 90-pound Kevlar suit , one technician took "the long walk" from his armored response van to the Mercedes E 300 sedan and found a carefully constructed, large vehicle bomb with a complicated fuse.

The bomb technician defused the device by hand, officials in London said.

Click here for ABC previous posting on the London plot.

UPDATE: Terror Plot Involves Islamic Extremists; Police Have 'Crystal Clear' Picture of Suspect ABC News

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:



British police have a "crystal clear" picture of the man who drove the bomb-rigged silver Mercedes outside a London nightclub, and officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com he bears "a close resemblance" to a man arrested by police in connection with another bomb plot but released for lack of evidence.



Officials say the suspect had been taken into custody in connection with the case of al Qaeda operative Dhiren Barot (pictured), who was convicted of orchestrating a vehicle bomb plot involving targets in London, New York, Newark, N.J. and Washington, D.C.

Officials say a surveillance camera caught the suspect "staggering from the Mercedes" shortly after parking it outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub.

UPDATE:"Cars of Al-Qaeda" (Bill Warner) details how the Muslim used car import scam is used in almost every al-Qaeda bomb plot in the last 8 years. Every time there is a Muslim plot to blow up and to kill US and or British targets there is a Muslim car dealer involved in financing the project.

The suspect's name has not been released but it appears to be Zamir Hussein. Hussein, 24, of Shackshaft Street, Blackburn, is a used car dealer and was linked to Dhiren Barot. Thanks to the intrepid Bill Warner for all of these details.

Check out these two news stories on the same day April 26, 2007

"He has my full support" April 26 2007 Lancashire Telegraph

A FRIEND of Junade Feroze spoke of his support for the terror plotter.

Feroze and Zamir Hussain, 24, of Shackshaft Street, Blackburn, were returning from a car auction in Bamber Bridge when police pounced.

Feroze had been working at his brother Javaid's Lower Audley Tyre Centre in Blackburn and has been held at London's Belmarsh high-security prison along with seven others since August 2004.

Zamir was later released without charge. Full article here at the Telegraph.

Blackburn car dealer admits terror bomb plot By Charlotte Bradshaw

AMBUSHED: Bomb plotter Junade Feroze's car is surrounded by anti-terrorist police when he was caught in Cherry Tree, Blackburn, in August, 2004 A BLACKBURN car dealer has admitted being involved in an Al Qaeda terrorist bomb plot.

Junade Feroze, 31, of Malham Gardens, Blackburn, was one of four men who pleaded guilty to plotting against the UK and the United States.

Zamir was the only one of the four Islamic terrorists that the cops released when Barot was arrested. It has to be him.

The men admitted conspiracy to cause explosions together with convicted Al Qaeda terrorist Dhiren Barot and others unknown between February 19, 2001, and August 4, 2004.

RELATED:Atlas Shrugs: The Stolen Cars of Al Qaeda

Atlas Shrugs: UPDATE: Al Qaeda's Stolen cars

More: Officials: Car Bomb Plot Bears Al Qaeda's Trademark

In addition to the tension in London, German officials say they are equally concerned they could be a target soon. New York's Time Square was on high alert today.

Officials tell ABC News at least two men have been arrested inside Germany who came directly from the Pakistan training camp.

Car Bomb Found in London 20 Days After al Qaeda Suicide Bomber 'Graduation Ceremony'

The discovery of a massive car bomb set to detonate in central London comes just three weeks after what was described as an al Qaeda graduation ceremony of suicide bomb teams to be dispatched to Europe and the United States.

Photos: Inside the al Qaeda 'Graduation'

Teams of 50 to 60 men were supposedly dispatched to the United States, Canada, Germany and Great Britain.
On the tape, the leader of the British team speaks of the mission in broken English, "Let me say something about why we are going along with my team to tell a suicide attack in Britain."
_________________
Psalm22:10-11 I was cast upon You from birth. From My mothers womb You have been My God.

British officials arrest two on highway, close down Liverpoo

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017185.php

July 1, 2007

British officials arrest two on highway, close down Liverpool airport

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (motto: "Above Us Only Sky") is now reopened, but it was shut overnight while police who did not want to Give The Religion Of Peace A Chance investigated a suspicious vehicle. "Terror arrests on M6," from the Manchester Evening News:

A SPOKESMAN for Cheshire Police today confirmed the arrests on the M6 last night were terror-related.
“Police last night arrested two people in connection with the incidents in London and Scotland on 29 and 30 June.

“Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Counter Terrorism Command, supporter by officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, made the arrests on the M6 in Cheshire near Sandbach.”...

A motorist told how he saw the two later arrests taking place on the M6.

Peter Whitehead told the BBC three unmarked police cars brought traffic to a halt on the motorway.

He said: “In front of them were a couple of other unmarked police cars and they forced a car on to the hard shoulder and got the occupants out and as far as I can see arrested them.”

Strathclyde Police confirmed officers had raided properties near Glasgow Airport this morning.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport was also closed overnight while police investigated a suspicious vehicle.

It was taken away for forensic examination and the airport was reopened at 4.40am, Merseyside Police said.
_________________
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.

Islamic Glasgow Terror Bomber Screamed ALLAH ALLAH

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2007/06/islamic-glasgow.html

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Islamic Glasgow Terror Bomber Screamed ALLAH ALLAH

The Islamic bomber was screaming ALLAH ALLAH when being apprehended and still no mention of Islam from the jihad loving media. Only warnings from British pundits and government officials not to ties this to any religion. Ugh.

This appears to be a wave of Islamic terror attacks, they are unsure if it's over. They call it "continuing."

UPDATE: Calif Dave explains the use of the word "Asian:"


Don't know if you've already pointed this out, but the term "asian" in U.K. can refer to the following, according to at least one slang dictionary on the web:

Asian (noun): person from India, Pakistan, etc., cf. oriental.

UPDATE: The religion of peace bmibs again;

In Glasgow, witnesses described how the two men drove the four-wheel-drive vehicle into the doors of the airport’s main terminal building. One of the men got out of the Jeep Cherokee with his clothes on fire. He was restrained by passengers while others put out the flames with a fire extinguisher.

Eyewitness Jackie Kennedy, 46, described how she watched one of the occupants of the car douse himself in petrol and set himself alight.

"He had a big smirk on his face. He lifted up what appeared to be a five-litre drum, which I think had petrol in it, and set himself on fire. His clothes were melting in front of my very eyes.

“The police tried to pounce on him but he fought back and was struggling with them. It was only when a member of the public punched him in the face that the police managed to restrain him. Times Online article here .
_________________
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.

U.K. police make 5th terror arrest

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_on_re_eu/britain_terrorism_14&printer=1;_ylt=Am6BSJh1ubMH65gmLU6fYqFbbBAF

U.K. police make 5th terror arrest

By IAN STEWART, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 19 minutes ago



Police searched several houses near Glasgow's airport and made a fifth arrest Sunday in connection with a fiery attack on its main terminal and foiled car bombings in London, which the prime minister suggested were carried out by terrorists linked to al-Qaida.

The terrorist threat that Britain faces is "long-term and sustained," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a nationally televised interview. It is clear, he said, "that we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al-Qaida."

After meeting with the country's top intelligence officers, police and senior officials, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said Britain would not be cowed.

"We won't, as the British people, be intimidated or let anyone stop us getting on with our lives," Smith said.

On Friday, police thwarted an apparent plot to set off a coordinated bomb attack in central London when an ambulance crew outside a nightclub spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes found rigged with explosives. They found a second Mercedes filled with explosives hours later.

And on Saturday, two men rammed a flaming Jeep into the main entrance of Glasgow airport, shattering the glass doors and igniting a fire just yards from people lined up at check-in counters.

"Al-Qaida has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the UK," said Lord Stevens, Brown's terrorism adviser.

The two men from the Glasgow attack were in police custody Sunday, one of them under guard in the hospital after being engulfed in flames when the Jeep crashed into the airport.

Early Sunday, police arrested two people — a 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman — on a major highway in Cheshire, northern England, in a joint swoop by officers from London and Birmingham, Scotland Yard said in London. A fifth suspect was arrested in Liverpool, police there said.

Police said officers were searching a residential area about a mile from the airport. In Houston, a small town just outside Glasgow, police cordoned off the area around a two-story house to search it.

The two attacks clearly are linked, police and security officials said, noting that all three vehicles contained flammable materials — including gasoline and gas cylinders.

Britain on Saturday raised its terror alert to "critical" — the highest possible level — and the Bush administration announced plans to increase security at airports and on mass transit.

The new terror threat presents Brown with an enormous challenge early in his premiership — and comes at a time of already heightened vigilance one week before the anniversary of the July 7, 2005, London transit attacks. Those were largely carried out by local Muslims, exacerbating ethnic tensions in Britain.

Kenny MacAskill, Scotland's justice secretary, said the two Glasgow attackers were not "born and bred here."

"Any suggestion to be made that they are homegrown terrorists is not true," he said.

Brown, a Scot who replaced Tony Blair as prime minister just days earlier, urged Britons to remain "constantly vigilant" about security. He said "Everything is being done in our power ... to protect people's lives."

"We will not yield, we will not be intimidated, and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life," he told the British Broadcasting Corp. in a TV interview.

Lord Stevens, London's former police chief, called it a major escalation in the campaign waged by Islamic militants.

In a column in Sunday's News of the World newspaper, he wrote that the terrorists are using "the same technology, the same bomb-making techniques, the same operating methods as their brothers-in-arms in both Baghdad and Bali," referring to the 2002 and 2005 attacks on the Indonesian resort island that killed more than 200 people.

Glasgow police chief Willie Rae said a suspicious device was found on a man wrestled to the ground by officers at Glasgow airport and hospitalized in critical condition with severe burns.

John Smeaton, who saw the attack, said the man shouted "Allah, Allah" as he was detained.

Glasgow airport began reopening Sunday, although the airport operator warned many flights would be canceled. The crashed Jeep remained out front, covered in a blue tarpaulin, and cars were not allowed to drive up to the terminal.

Officers also were reviewing closed-circuit television footage in the search for clues into the foiled London bombings.

The incident hinted of a foiled December 1999 plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport. Customs agents stopped a man in a car packed with 124 pounds of explosives. He is serving a 22-year prison sentence for the plot.

And last year, a 35-year-old British convert to Islam was convicted of plotting to bomb several U.S. financial targets and luxury London hotels with a plot that called for using limousines packed with gas tanks, napalm and nails.

In April, accused members of an al-Qaida-linked terror cell were convicted of conspiring to blow up the Ministry of Sound nightclub, one of London's biggest music venues.

___

On the Net:

http://www.glasgowairport.com
_________________
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.

Suspicious package forces JFK evacuation

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_on_re_us/jfk_evacuation_1&printer=1;_ylt=AsVoZpHdxbiV7TqSxQqEb25H2ocA

Suspicious package forces JFK evacuation

12 minutes ago



Authorities found a suspicious package and evacuated the American Airlines terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday, officials said.

The package was found on the curb at 10:20 a.m., said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The NYPD bomb squad was en route, he said.

It was not immediately clear how many passengers were evacuated or if any flights were affected.

The Port Authority, which operates JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York and Newark Liberty in New Jersey, took "a number of measures as we always do to respond to security situations immediately" after an apparent terrorist attack at the airport in Glasgow, Scotland, Coleman said Saturday.
_________________
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.

US adds air marshals to overseas flights

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070701/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_britain_terrorism&printer=1;_ylt=AiORj7YQdtaw6Zj1kvZM.hNK2ocA

US adds air marshals to overseas flights


By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 56 minutes ago



The U.S. is adding air marshals to overseas flights because of concerns about potential terrorism threats originating in Britain and Europe, the homeland security chief said Sunday.

The Bush administration said it was satisfied with its current terrorism alert level following an attack at a Scottish airport and two foiled car bombs in London.

"I think given what we know now, we're comfortable that we're at the right posture," Michael Chertoff said during a round of talk show appearances.

U.S. airports and mass transit systems are tightening security ahead of the Fourth of July holiday and more air marshals will travel on overseas flights.

"We will be doing operations at various rail locations and other mass transit locations in cooperation with local authorities. Again, not because of a specific piece of credible threat information, but because we are going into a holiday season. There will be a larger number of people traveling," Chertoff said.

Airports are at the second of five security threat levels — orange — indicating a high risk of terrorist attacks. The current national threat level is yellow, or the third highest, indicating an elevated threat.

Chertoff said he does not plan to change those levels. "At this moment we don't have a specific credible threat against the United States," he said.

Britain has raised its security alert level to the highest possible level, indicating terror attacks may be imminent.

Chertoff said he has spoken out for some time about U.S. worries involving potential terrorist threats originating in Britain and Europe.

"I think one of the issues we're increasingly concerned about is the movement of Europeans, including people with European citizenship, into areas of South Asia to get trained and get experience and then the prospect of these people coming back to carry out operations in Europe or in the United States using Europe as a departure point," Chertoff said.

"It's one of the reasons we've been very focused on increasing our security for people incoming from Europe. And that's something we're going to be looking at for the rest of the summer," he said.

The U.S. increased the number of air marshals on flights between the United States and Europe last August and stepped up the pace over the past few months, Chertoff said. Last August, British police foiled an alleged plot by Muslim extremists to use liquid explosives to blow up as many as 10 flights between the United States and Britain.

"We haven't singled out Glasgow until a couple of days ago as a particular location for focus, but there has been a strategy of mixing up the deployment of these air marshals, sometimes more in one destination, sometimes more in another destination," he said.

"Going forward, we will be doing some enhanced air marshal work and similar types of activities with respect to U.K. travel."

Britain's new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said his country was dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaida. Chertoff said, "If they are comfortable in confirming that, then that's fine. I have no reason to disagree."

A burning Jeep Cherokee rammed into Glasgow's airport terminal on Saturday. The day before, police in London found two cars packed with explosives.

One of the men in the airport attack was in critical condition at a hospital with severe burns, while the other was in police custody. Kenny MacAskill, the nation's justice secretary, said the two men were not born and raised in Scotland.

"Any suggestion to be made that they are homegrown terrorists is not true," MacAskill said.

Chertoff mentioned Iraq as a place where would-be terrorists can hone their skills in preparation for possible attacks around the world.

"What I do think we see in Iraq is a laboratory for techniques where people experiment with sophisticated forms of explosive devices, and we do get concerned that that will ultimately lead to importing those kinds of techniques to the West."

Chertoff appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week," "Fox News Sunday" and "Late Edition" on CNN.
_________________
"May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't." -General George S. Patton

Psalm 82-8: Arise, O God, judge the earth, for You inherit all the nations.

Terrorist suspects 'not Scottish'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6258758.stm

Two men arrested in Scotland in connection with the Glasgow Airport attack are not "home-grown terrorists", Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said.
His comments followed searches of a number of homes in Neuk Crescent, Houston, Renfrewshire.

Mr MacAskill said the suspects were not "born or bred" here but had lived in Scotland for a "period of time".

"For any suggestion to be made that they are home-grown terrorists is just not true," he added.



Resident Stewart McArthur said the police arrived in Neuk Crescent just before 0500 BST.

'Heavily armed'

"They were in an unmarked transit van and they were wearing balaclavas," he said.

"It was like an American Swat unit here. And they were really heavily armed."

The airport is starting to return to normal although many flights are still cancelled or delayed.

The reopening will be "extremely gradual", the airport official added.








The Muslim community are concerned about a backlash and that's why the emergency meeting has been called
Mohammed Sarwar
Glasgow MP


Following Saturday's incident police are now holding four people.

Strathclyde Police have linked the attack to the discovery of two car bombs in London's West End on Friday.

As a result of both incidents, the UK has moved to its highest level of terror alert - critical.

A further two people have been arrested in Cheshire and another in Liverpool.

Scottish ministers met earlier for a briefing on developments.

The summit was led by First Minister Alex Salmond and attended by Mr MacAskill, Scotland's top law officer, Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini and the country's most senior civil servant, Scottish Executive permanent secretary Sir John Elvidge.

Scotland's equivalent of Westminster's Cobra emergency committee is the Scottish Executive Emergency Room (Seer).









Mr Salmond, who has appealed for public vigilance, has said no community should be scapegoated as a result of the Glasgow incident.

Muslim leaders are holding an emergency meeting in Glasgow to discuss fallout from the attack.

Scotland's only Muslim MP Mohammed Sarwar said threats had been made towards members of the Muslim community in the aftermath of the attack in Glasgow.

He told BBC Scotland he had taken calls from people who had been threatened or targeted by abusive graffiti.

Mr Sarwar said people in the Muslim and Asian communities were "very angry".

"They're concerned about a backlash and that's why the emergency meeting has been called," he said.

Security tightened

Osama Saeed, from the Muslim Association of Great Britain, said: "I think, personally, it's so close to home that it's a completely different emotional reaction."

The accident and emergency department at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, where one of the suspects is being treated for burns, is now open and fully functional.











The suspect remains in a critical condition.

A member of the public is being treated in the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, in connection with yesterday's attack.

He has been described as being in a stable condition.

Security has been tightened at Scotland's other airports.

The access road to Edinburgh Airport has been closed and armed police are patrolling the Forth road and rail bridges.

Lothian and Borders Police said they had also increased security at other key sites across the city, including the castle and Holyrood Palace.

At the Scottish Parliament some of the entrances have been closed with visitors going through stricter security screening.

Anyone with information should contact the Strathclyde Police incident room on 0800 0560944 .

Are you in the area? Have you been affected by this story? Have you witnessed any of the arrests? Use the form below to send us your comments.

Send your pictures and moving footage to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 07725 100 100.

At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws.













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"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

UK Terror Means Critical Security Threats

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/News/World/Europe/UK_Terror_Means_Critical_Security_Threats__4140.asp

The UK is bracing itself for a fresh wave of terrorist attacks following three attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow on Friday and Saturday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who took office on Wednesday, said in a national televised address on Sunday that “it is clear that we are dealing with people who are associated with al Qaeda.”

Security authorities have long feared that the deadly car bombings which have become daily occurrences in Iraq would spread to European cities.

Late Saturday, the new Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, raised the national terror threat to the highest level – ‘critical’ – which indicates that an attack is expected 'imminently'.

“This weekend’s bomb attacks signal a major escalation in the war being waged on us by Islamic terrorists,” said Lord Stevens, London’s former police chief and a terrorism adviser appointed earlier this week by Mr Brown. “Now al Qaeda has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the UK,” he wrote in an opinion piece published in Sunday’s News of the World.

British authorities said evidence indicated that the attack on Glasgow Airport, in which two men rammed a flaming Jeep into the entrance of the main terminal, had been a botched suicide mission.

One witness, Scott Leeson, said: “The car came speeding past. Then the driver swerved the car around so he could ram straight in to the door. He must have been trying to smash straight through.”

Some witnesses reported that the driver got jammed between concrete security bollards as he tried to plough into the terminal, which was bustling with families waiting to check in for flights on the first day of school holidays.

“They were obviously trying to get it further inside the airport as the wheels were spinning and smoke was coming from them,” said another witness, Lynsey McBean.

The driver then got out and poured gasoline over himself and the vehicle and lit them both, setting off a series of explosions.

“It was just a small fire at first,” said Robin Patterson. “Then there was an enormous explosion. The guy next to the car, his skin and clothes just fell off him.”

Engulfed in flames, the burning man threw punches at passengers and police and shouted “Allah! Allah!” as he tried to escape. He was restrained by police, who put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. Both the driver and his passenger were led away by police in handcuffs.

The driver was then taken to a local hospital to receive treatment. There, staff found on him a ‘suspect device’ believed to be a suicide belt, forcing the evacuation of the hospital. However, this proved to be a false alarm.

Five bystanders were also injured in the Glasgow Airport attack , none seriously. On Sunday morning, the airport resumed flights, with passengers entering the terminal through a police cordon.

Glasgow police chief Willie Rae said Saturday’s airport attack and Friday’s attempted car bombings in London appear to have been connected. “There are clearly similarities and we can confirm that this is being treated as a terrorist incident,” he said.

Police discovered two Mercedes in central London in the early hours of Friday morning, each packed with gasoline-filled containers, gas cylinders, propane tanks and nails.

One car was parked outside the popular Tiger Tiger nightclub on Haymarket in London’s West End, a busy thoroughfare lined with clubs, theatres and restaurants and only a short walk from Piccadilly Circus. An ambulance driver treating one of the nightclub’s patrons for a head wound noticed vapors coming from the car and alerted police, who defused the explosives. The other car had been parked illegally on a nearby street and was towed away.

Police now believe that the bombers intended to use one explosion to draw panicking club patrons out on to the streets; then a second car bomb could have been detonated in the crowd to cause hundreds of deaths. This was the tactic used in the October 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.

Chris Driver-Williams, a retired British army major and now a terrorist bomb consultant to the US and British governments, told the Washington Post that the explosive firepower of the crude devices could have been “catastrophic”, especially since the valves on the gas cylinders were left open to create a fuel-air explosion.

This type of explosion uses oxygen to ignite a blast wave more powerful than many conventional explosives. However, these devices are difficult to ignite properly and could explain the flames coming from the Jeep even before its crash into the airport terminal in Glasgow.

Nevertheless, Mr Driver-Williams said that if such explosives were ignited properly, the result would be a “fireball the size of a house”.

The bombs assembled for the attempted London car bombings may reflect the increased restrictions on high-powered explosive materials in the UK.

“The danger here is that we are entering the era of the car bomb,” an unnamed British intelligence source told The Independent. “In the past, al Qaeda-style terrorists have used high-explosive bombs aimed at symbolic, high-profile targets. But it’s easy to make a gas and nail car bomb without raising suspicion.”

Magnus Ranstorp, a Swedish terrorism expert has also said that the threat to the UK is the gravest in Europe because the UK is considered a close ally of the US and a major military partner in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

It is not known yet whether the car bombers in London and Glasgow were assisted or funded by overseas terrorist organizations. Yet they are believed to be members of a loose network of terrorist cells that use the Internet to exchange information on the latest terror tactics.

Police have begun investigating the al Hesbah chat forum, which is frequently used by al Qaeda supporters. One message posted by frequent contributor Abu Osama al-Hazeen stated that “London shall be bombed” hours before the first car bomb was found in Haymarket. Police are trying to locate Mr al-Hazeen by following his ‘electronic footprint’.

Police are also using more conventional means to track down those involved, including forensic testing and security camera video footage. While the two Mercedes used were probably stolen, police have obtained a fairly clear CCTV image of one suspect who ran from the Mercedes in Haymarket at 1.30am on Friday. Investigators are now tracking his further movements using images taken by hundreds of cameras throughout central London. Police believe it is highly unlikely that those involved have tried to leave the country.

Five suspects have been arrested so far in connection with the incidents in Glasgow and London. In addition to the two men taken into custody at Glasgow Airport, police arrested two other suspects early Sunday on a major highway in Cheshire, northern England. A fifth suspect was arrested in Liverpool, where John Lennon Airport was closed overnight following the discovery of another suspicious vehicle. The airport has since reopened.

The UK’s new terror threat comes one week before the anniversary of the bombings which shook London on July 7, 2005. Just before 9 am that morning, three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other on Underground commuter trains; nearly an hour later, another bomb exploded on a double-decker bus. Fifty-two people were killed in the blasts, with more than 700 injured. It was later discovered that the bombings had been carried out by home-grown British Muslim extremists based in Birmingham.

British authorities have now ordered that security be tightened around the Wimbledon tennis tournament and Sunday’s concert honoring the late Princess Diana, which is expected to attract a crowd of 60,000 to London’s Wembley Stadium.


_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Two jihad suspects are hospital doctors

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017193.php

Another blow for the poverty theory of "radicalization." "Two Terror Suspects Are Hospital doctors," from Sky News:

Two of the five terror suspects being held in the wake of the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow are believed to be hospital doctors working in the UK.
The majority of the five terror suspects being held in police custody in connection with bomb attacks in London and Glasgow are not British and at least one is still at large, according to Sky sources.
Sky sources believe one of the men arrested at Glasgow airport and a 26- year-old man arrested on the M6 with a 27-year-old woman in Cheshire are both doctors.
The BBC identifies the male doctor as being from Iran.

Sky Crime Reporter Martin Brunt said: "This is very far removed from the picture we normally have. These are professional people with highly paid jobs who are intent on killing people."
There are currently five people in custody in connection with the bomb attacks and the majority are believed not to be British. At least one key suspect is said to still be at large.

_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Blair launches stinging attack on 'absurd' British Islamists

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/017195.php

Oppression? You're not oppressed, says former Prime Minister Tony Blair to British Muslims. We have taken issue with him many, many times over his silly statements about Islamic jihad terrorism and related matters, but he has this right.

By Nicholas Watt in The Observer (thanks to all who sent this in):

...'The idea that as a Muslim in this country that you don't have the freedom to express your religion or your views, I mean you've got far more freedom in this country than you do in most Muslim countries,' Blair told Observer columnist Will Hutton, who presents the documentary.
'The reason we are finding it hard to win this battle is that we're not actually fighting it properly. We're not actually standing up to these people and saying, "It's not just your methods that are wrong, your ideas are absurd. Nobody is oppressing you. Your sense of grievance isn't justified."'

Blair held out the example of the overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan - criticised by Islamists as an example of the heavy-handed imperial West oppressing Muslims - to highlight unfounded claims of grievance. He asked how it is possible to claim that Afghanistan's Muslims are being oppressed when the Taliban 'used to execute teachers for teaching girls in schools'.

Blair added: 'How are [we] oppressing them? You're oppressing them when you support the people who are trying to blow them up.'

Blair, who normally chooses his language carefully when he talks about Islamists, also takes a swipe at critics who accused him of undermining civil liberties. 'When I'm trying to change the law in order to make it easier to deport people who engage in terrorism - the idea that that's an assault on hundreds of years of British civil liberties is completely absurd. Some of what is written on this is loopy-loo in its extremism.'


_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.

Mohammed Asha and foreign doctors

It is entirely alien to all that doctors have stood for since Hippocrates first drafted the oath than enjoins doctors to "do no harm". While not all graduates these days swear the Hippocratic Oath on graduation, its principles still bind their conduct.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2015879.ece

&A: Mohammed Asha and foreign doctors
Nigel Hawkes
A doctor qualified in Jordan and working here, Mohammed Asha, has been named as one of those arrested in connection with the series of failed car bomb attacks in recent days. What do we know about him?

Not much. He graduated in 2004, so would still be on the lowest rungs of medical training, as a junior hospital doctor. His specialist interest is reported to be neurology.

How do foreign doctors arrive and qualify for work in the UK?

Every year thousands of foreign doctors apply to register as doctors in the UK. The normal route, for a doctor who has qualified outside Europe from a recognised medical school, is to take tests of competence in English - the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test. An alternative route is to apply for postgraduate training at a recognised institution. Graduates who pass the PLAB test or win a postgraduate training place qualify for "limited registration" by the General Medical Council.

What is limited registration?

It is a form of probationary rgistration which does not enable the recipient to practice, except in a specified job where he or she is supervised by a fully-registered doctor. This is the form of registratiion held by Mohammed Asha, who graduated in Jordan in 2004 and was first given limited registration by the GMC in October 2005. It is not known whether he applied through PLAB or thrugh a postgraduate training programme.

How many doctors from aboard apply to work here?

Many thousands take the PLAB test every year, with numbers rising fast. In 2003 nearly 8,000 passed PLAB 1 and 5,000 PLAB 2. By 2004 the number passing PLAB 2 had risen to 7,500. But many graduates who pass find it very difficult to get jobs - more than a third who passed PLAB 2 in 2003 were still unemployed six months later. Those who do get jobs often find themselves in short-term posts, or six-month posts with no guarantee of further employment.

Who checks if they are who they say they are?

It is up to employing trusts to make these checks, advised by NHS Employers. Checks would include confirmation of identity, references and qualifications, plus a criminal records check. This is obviously harder to do in the case of international graduates, but the Criminal Records Bureau can provide country-by-country advice on whether and how it can be done.

Engaging in bombings is hardly compatible with a doctor's normal duty of care, is it?

It is entirely alien to all that doctors have stood for since Hippocrates first drafted the oath than enjoins doctors to "do no harm". While not all graduates these days swear the Hippocratic Oath on graduation, its principles still bind their conduct.

_________________
"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.