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A view of the damage after a blazing jeep drove into a terminal building at Glasgow Airport, Scotland. “The police have been called at about 3:15 (pm) (1415 GMT) at Glasgow Airport. A car had crashed inside the terminal. It was on fire,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
The blazing jeep, moments after the men inside had staggered out
Video of the attack here
2 men in flaming car ram Glasgow Airport
Two men rammed a flaming sport utility vehicle into the main terminal of Glasgow airport Saturday, crashing into the glass doors at the entrance and sparking a fire, witnesses said. Police said two suspects were arrested.
The green SUV barreled toward the building at full speed before crashing into security barriers. Witnesses said two men jumped out, one of them engulfed in flames. Two men were arrested, Strathclyde Police spokeswoman Lisa O’Neil said.
The airport — Scotland’s largest — was evacuated and flights suspended. Smoke and black flames rose from the car in front of the main entrance.
“The Jeep is completely on fire and it exploded not long after. It exploded at the entrance to the terminal,” witness Stephen Clarkson told the BBC. “It may have been an explosion of petrol in the tank because it was not a massive explosion.”
Two men — one of them engulfed in flames — were in the SUV, said BBC News executive Helen Boaden, who was at the airport. She said a traveler tried to restrain the man.
“Then the police came over and wrestled him to the ground — the fire was burning through his clothes — and finally put him out with a fire extinguisher,” she said.
Police won’t say yet whether this was a terrorist attack or a criminal inquiry.
he scene at Glasgow Airport in this image from video Saturday, June 30, 2007. Two men tried to ram a jeep with flames pouring from it into the main terminal of Glasgow airport Saturday, crashing into the glass doors at the entrance and sparking a fire, witnesses said. Police said two people were arrested. The green SUV barreled toward the building at full speed before crashing into security barriers. Witnesses said two men fled the SUV, one of them engulfed in flames. Two men were arrested, Strathclyde Police spokeswoman Lisa O’Neil said.
But, car petrol bombs sounds familiar does it not?
Gas cylinders? “Witnesses said some of the hundreds of people in the area removed gas cylinders from the jeep before it caught fire. But there are reports the men were trying to fling petrol onto the flames.â€
Stay tuned……
The outisde of the terminal building in flames after this afternoon’s explosion.
Update 1:16 PM
United States has decided to boost airport security but no change in threat level according to Reuters.
Flaming Car Rams U.K. Airport; 2 Arrests
The car came speeding past at about 30 mph. It was approaching the building quickly,” said Scott Leeson, who was nearby at the time. “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.”
Two men were arrested, Strathclyde Police spokeswoman Lisa O’Neil said.
Passengers fled running and screaming from the busy terminal, Margaret Hughes told the British Broadcasting Corp. “There was black smoke gushing out where the car had obviously been driven into the airport,” she said.
Flames and black smoke rose from the vehicle outside the main entrance. Police said it was unclear if anyone was injured. Other passengers were stranded, with at least one airplane grounded on the runway, the BBC said.
The incident also comes exactly one week before the second anniversary of the July 7 bombings that killed 52 people.
Leeson said bollards – security posts outside the entrance – stopped the driver from barreling into the bustling terminal at Glasgow’s airport.
“He’s trying to get through the main door frame but the bollards have stopped him from going through. If he’d got through, he’d have killed hundreds, obviously,” he said.
Leeson said only the nose of the vehicle made it inside the building. Richard Grey told the BBC that the vehicle was lodged into the center of the terminal’s main entrance.
“The jeep is completely on fire and it exploded not long after. It exploded at the entrance to the terminal,” witness Stephen Clarkson told the BBC. “It may have been an explosion of petrol in the tank because it was not a massive explosion.”
Two men – one of them engulfed in flames – were in the SUV, witnesses told BBC News executive Helen Boaden, who was at the airport at time. She described the men as South Asian.
Clarkson described him as a large South Asian man. “His whole body was on fire…. He was just talking gibberish,” he told the BBC.
“An Asian guy had been pulled out of the car by two police officers he was trying to fight off and they’d got him on the floor,” Grey told the BBC.
Eyewitness reports yet unconfirmed that the two Asian men where throwing petrol around the car.
Police are searching other cars in the airport looking for car bombs.
Passengers hurry away from Glasgow airport in Scotland, 30 June 2007, after a jeep on fire drove into a terminal building, police said.
Update 1:46 PM
New Prime Minister Gordon Brown to chair emergency security meeting this evening in Britain.
The United States will issue a paper statement shortly on increasing presence of security officials at American Airports.
Sky News: Glasgow situation now being treated as a “TERRORIST INCIDENT.”
Duh……looks like suicide car bombing…..
Update 2:10 PM
BBC: Blazing car crashes into airport
Photo of Glasgow Car Bomber
Man Tackled Driver Video
Eyewitnesses have described a Jeep Cherokee being driven at speed towards the building with flames coming out from underneath.
They have also described seeing two Asian men, one of whom was on fire, who had been in the car.
Strathclyde Police said two people had been arrested and detained in connection with the incident.
Sky News: Hospital where Glasgow car bomb suspect was taken is evacuated.
U.S. tightens security at some airports
Some U.S. airports will tighten security in response to possible terrorist incidents in Britain, the White House said Saturday.
The U.S., however, is not raising its terror alert status, President Bush’s spokesman said. “There is no indication of any specific or credible threat to the United States — no change in the overall security level,” Tony Snow told reporters in Maine.
The Transportation Security Administration has taken steps to raise alertness at some airports, Snow said. More TSA agents will be posted outside some terminals, he said.
“There will be some inconvenience of passengers in terms of longer wait times,” Snow said. Local police also may take separate measures, he added.
A little inconvenience for safety is fine.
Homeland Security will issue a paper statement shortly.
Update 3:13 PM
Sky News: News Presser within the next hour
Eyewitness – one of two men in car fighting with police was shouting “Allah Allah.”
Security level in Britain raised to “CRITICAL” – an another attack imminent.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called a meeting of the government emergencies committee Cobra after a burning car was driven into a Glasgow airport terminal.
Update 3:44 PM
British PM Gordon Brown has just spoken: “It is right to raise the security level at airports and crowded places.”
Update 4:05 PM
New conference at 4:30 PM by British officials on Glasgow incident
CNN: Sources: Terror suspect dies; explosives-filled cars traced to Glasgow
LONDON (CNN) — One of two suspects who crashed a vehicle into an entrance at the Glasgow, Scotland, airport Saturday has died of burns suffered in the incident, sources close to the investigation told CNN.
The vehicle burst into flames after the crash, and the suspect was taken to a hospital.
In addition, authorities have linked the Glasgow incident to the discovery of two explosives-filled cars in London on Friday. Sources told CNN both of those cars have been traced back to Glasgow. (Posted 3:52 p.m.)
Sleeper Terror Cell on the Loose in U.K.
Counter-terrorism analysts estimate that the apparently coordinated attacks in Great Britain are work of a sleeper cell that could include as many as 20 individuals.
“You would need that many to pull off three different vehicle-borne explosions,” said one former CIA official who requested his name not be used.
A massive manhunt is now underway across Great Britain for at least three suspects who officials say have been positively linked to the Friday attacks by surveillance photographs and forensic evidence, including fingerprints.
“The Brits simply are not ahead of this cell and they know it,” he said.
The two failed car bomb attacks in London Friday appear to be connected to today’s attack on the Glasgow Airport terminal, although British officials have yet to declare so officially.
Adding to the intelligence failure, analysts said, is the fact that the driver of one of the failed car bombs had been arrested three years ago and released for lack of evidence.
News Conference coming up……
Update 4:32 PM
John Lennon Airport in Liverpool closed until further notice
Update 4:38 PM
Scottish Police reading a statement:
Two men arrested one taken to Royal Alexandria Hospital – critical condition; suspect device found and hospital was evacuated; device defused; other man detained in police custody; device remains at site; airport evacuated and passengers in airplanes on Tarmack; airport remains closed; unknown when airport resumes normal service; confirms Glasgow incident linked to London incident yesterday; treating it as terrorist incident; no intelligence prior to Glasgow incident; SO-15 involved; raised security level to critical; no intelligence any further incidences of terrorism but asking public to report any suspicious activity to police; asking members of the public to come forward who witnessed incident; the hospital is business as usual; another person injured(l eg), taken to hospital; no other casualties; officers So-15 are jointly investigating matter;
Questions:
Individuals: not appropriate to tell – legal restrictions
Hospital: Device removed and taken to safe place.
Vehicle contained materials that were flammable, close forensic investigation to be undertaken; awaiting clearance from other service to approach vehicle.
Update 4:57 PM
Fox News: Might these two attacks be diversionary attacks, leaving professional Al Qaeda operatives for a greater attack to come?
Police: Suspect in critical condition
(CNN) — Two suspects were arrested after a vehicle crashed into an entrance Saturday at Glasgow International Airport and burst into flames, Glasgow police said.
One was in critical condition at a hospital and had suffered severe burns, said William Rae, chief constable for Strathclyde Police. While the man was being treated at the hospital, he said, a “suspect device” was found and the hospital partially evacuated.
The second person was in custody. Investigators did not know whether another person was in the burned vehicle, which remained at the airport Saturday evening. (Posted 4:58 p.m.)
Stay tuned
Update 5:35 PM
CNN Sources: 3 suspects in Glasgow airport incident, one dead at scene
(CNN) — Authorities believe there were three people inside a Jeep Cherokee that crashed into an entrance and burst into flames at Glasgow International Airport Saturday, and one of them died at the scene, sources close to the investigation told CNN.
William Rae, chief constable for police in Strathclyde, the province that includes Glasgow, told reporters that two people were arrested at the scene. One was in custody, he said, and a second suffered severe burns and was in critical condition at a hospital.
Sources told CNN the body of the third suspect remained in the Jeep Cherokee, which was still at the airport. (Posted 5:28 p.m.)
US Warned of Glasgow Threat Two Weeks Ago
U.S. law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago warning of a possible terror attack in Glasgow against “airport infrastructure or aircraft,” a senior US law enforcement officials tells the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
The intelligence reports also warned that airports and aircraft in the Czech Republic could be the targets of al Qaeda-connected terrorists.
The warnings were kept secret for operational reasons, according to officials. In public, the White House and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff have continued to maintain they know of no specific or credible threats involving the United States, even though the intelligence reports specify US aircraft as possible targets.
A US official told ABCNews.com that the intelligence reports led to the assignment of Federal Air Marshals to flights into and out of both Glasgow and Prague.
Air marshals had been added to flights into and out of Germany late last month, based on similar warnings.
Stay tuned….
Flap is going to start a new thread on the Glasgow incident.
The blazing Jeep at the doors of Terminal 1 at Glasgow Airport
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