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UK Terror Watch: Al Qaeda – “Those Who Cure You Will Kill You”; Update: British Terror Level Lowered to Severe from Critical
‘Those who cure you will kill you’
An al-Qaeda leader in Iraq boasted before last week’s failed bombings in London and Glasgow that his group was planning to attack British targets and that “those who cure you will kill youâ€, The Times has learnt.
The warning was delivered to Canon Andrew White, a senior British cleric working in Baghdad, and could be highly significant as the eight Muslims arrested in the wake of the failed plot are all members of the medical profession.
Canon Andrew White
Canon White told The Times that he had passed the general warning, but not the specific words, to a senior official at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in mid-April. A Foreign Office spokesman said last night that it was forwarding the actual words to the Metropolitan Police.
The Times also learnt yesterday that one of the suspects, the Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdulla, had links to radical Islamic groups, and that several of the eight suspects have now been linked to known extremist radicals listed on MI5’s data base. Canon White, who runs Baghdad’s only Anglican parish, said that he met the al-Qaeda leader on the fringes of a meeting about religious reconciliation held in Amman, the Jordanian capital.
“He talked to me about how they were going to destroy British and Americans. He told me that the plans were already made and they would soon be destroying the British. He said the people who cure you would kill you.
Dr. Kahlid Ahmed has been identified as the driver of the Glasgow Car Bomb
Dr. Bilal Abdulla arrested at the Glasgow Airport bombing
Dr. Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, an Iraqi from Baghdad who arrived in the UK in April 2006.Dr. Bilal Abdulla has been transferred to Paddington Green high-security prison in London as the investigation continues
Yet, the good Anglican cleric will NOT reveal with which Al Qaeda leader he was talking?
And, why not?Â
NHS terror plot: police investigate global email network used by ‘bombers’
Detectives investigating the NHS car bomb plot are today examining an international network of emails and phone records.
Police have seized computers from hospitals in Glasgow, Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool. They are examining a theory that suspects planned the attacks in cyberspace while working at NHS hospitals.
The development was revealed as Scotland Yard sent a senior counter-terrorism investigator to Australia where one of the suspects is being held.
Today Australia invoked emergency anti-terrorism powers for the first time to extend the detention of Dr Mohammed Haneef, a 27-year-old Indian national who was arrested in Brisbane but who until last year worked in Liverpool.
Sources said there was evidence that Dr Haneef was in telephone contact with at least one of the would-be bombers. There was also evidence that a “guiding handî may still be at large outside Britain.
Dr Mohammed Haneef was arrested at Brisbane Airport as he tried to board a plane to Pakistan or was it Inida?
Dr Haneef was arrested shortly before he was due to board a flight to India with a one-way ticket. The manager of his apartment block in Brisbane, Steve Bosher, said he had left in such a hurry that his washing was still drying on the balcony – raising the possibility that he was tipped off about the failure of the car bomb plot by accomplices in Britain.
Ministers were today facing a security row after it emerged that at least four of the eight suspects being questioned had their details logged on MI5’s databases before the attacks took place, and one was on a Home Office warning index.
Whitehall officials denied any “cock-up” and said that the suspects had merely “crossed the radarî of the security service and were among thousands of peripheral contacts of extremists.
Well, Britain and the United States had better learn from their mistakes and naivety and understand that the Islamofascists will use any means at their disposal to destroy the West. How about as a first step to restrict travel from countries that are state sponsors of terrorism? Or requiring super-visas for limited amounts of time?
However, another problem for Britain is their failed NHS that relies on foreign doctors to provide universal, socialized and crappy medical care for their overtaxed citizens.
But, what about the United States? What precautions are the American Immigration and Customs Service using to ensure we are not granting access to foreign terrorists?
Update 1:55 PM
The UK has lowered its terror level to severe from critical.
Terror Threat Level Is Reduced
Britain’s terror threat level has been reduced from ‘critical’ to ‘severe’.
That means a terror attack is no longer imminent – but is still likely at any time.
“It still means the authorities believe it is highly likely that there will be an attack at any moment,” Sky’s crime correspondent Martin Brunt said.The threat level was raised by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Saturday evening following the failed terror attacks on London and Glasgow.
The decision to lower the threat level was made by the Joint Terrorism and Analysis Centre (JTAC), according to a statement by the Home Secretary.
She said: “There is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is expected imminently. However, the reduction of the threat level to severe does not mean the overall threat has gone away.
Stay tuned for breaking news.
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UK Terror Watch: MI5 Knew Four of the Car Bomb Plotters
UK Terror Watch: Heathrow Airport Evacuated as Terror Plot Investigation Continues; Update: Scotland Yard is Reporting They Have Rounded Up All Suspects in the London and Glasgow Terror Plots; Update: Gas Canister Pair of Suspects Arrested in Terror Probe; Update: British PM Gordon Brown Has Banned the word “MUSLIM†and “WAR ON TERROR†in Referring to Terror Plot; Update: Glasgow Car Bomb Driver Identified as Dr. Kahlid Ahmed; Update: Same Men Behind Both London and Glasgow AttacksUK Terror Watch: My Son is Not a Terrorist
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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UK Terror Watch: MI5 Knew Four of the Car Bomb Plotters
AL-Qaeda’s Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may have ordered the bombers to go to Britain as a ‘sleeper cell’
MI5 knew four of the bomb plotters
As many as four of the NHS terror cell suspects were already known to security services, it emerged last night.
They had ‘crossed the radar’ of MI5 during previous anti-terror inquiries but were considered low priority.
Sources said there had been no suggestion the medics were planning anything like the failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.
But at least one had featured in a surveillance operation, raising questions as to precisely what was known about them. The case echoes the disturbing disclosures that two of the July 7 suicide bombers, including ringleader Mohammed Sidique Khan, were seen during investigations into another terror cell but were also given a low priority.
Reports in the U.S. yesterday said key members of the NHS cell were recruited more than two years ago by terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq last year.
Well, if this is true, the Brits dodged a bullet or a couple of car bombs which could have resulted in hundreds of deaths.
Let’s look at the history of the medical doctor bombers:
Dr. Kahlid Ahmed has been identified as the driver of the Glasgow Car Bomb
Dr. Bilal Abdulla arrested at the Glasgow Airport bombing
Dr. Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, an Iraqi from Baghdad who arrived in the UK in April 2006.Dr. Bilal Abdulla has been transferred to Paddington Green high-security prison in London as the investigation continues
In an extraordinary piece of advance planning – a trademark of Al Qaeda – they were sent to Britain as ‘sleepers’ to await orders.
Zarqawi, who became head of Al Qaeda in Iraq and personally beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley, wanted men of an entirely different profile to the ‘homegrown’ July 7 bombers.
The reports came as investigators focused on Dr Bilal Abdulla, one of seven men and a woman under arrest. He was one of the two men who drove a blazing Jeep into an entrance of Glasgow Airport on Saturday.
The 28-year-old, the son of a leading Iraqi rheumatologist, arrived in Britain last August and took a job at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
In Iraq he was a member of the extreme Sunni Wahabist sect, which is aligned with Al Qaeda. Fellow medical students in Baghdad described him as ‘deeply religious’ with ‘extreme views of Islam’.
And this did not set off alarm bells?
Oh, it did!
Dr Abdulla, who was under investigation at the hospital because of his use of radical websites while on duty, lived in London for a time in 2003 before returning to Baghdad to complete his studies.
Investigators are trying to establish his contacts in London and whether he was a visitor to the Finsbury Park mosque, which has been linked to other Al Qaeda attacks.
Last night Dr Abdulla and two Saudi Arabian medical students arrested in Paisley were transferred from Scotland to top- security Paddington Green police station in West London.The second man in the blazing Jeep was named as Khalid Ahmed, also a doctor.
He suffered 90 per cent burns in the attack and police have not been able to question him.Dr Abdulla and Dr Ahmed are said to have been the men who drove two Mercedes car bombs into London’s West End early on Friday. They are now known to have returned to Glasgow via a complex route involving taxis, trains and coaches.
But, the question has to be asked: What did the MI5 know and when did they know it?
Five doctors, two trainee doctors and a hospital laboratory technician are now being held in connection with the attacks and police are checking medical records for a common theme.
They include Jordanian neurosurgeon Mohammed Asha, 26, his wife Marwah, 27, a laboratory technician, a 26-year-old Indian doctor from Liverpool and Dr Mohammed Haneef, 27, another Indian.
Dr Haneef was held at Brisbane airport on Monday as he prepared to leave Australia on a one-way ticket to India.
He was working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in eastern Queensland, but his previous post was at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire, where the 26-year- old arrested in Liverpool also worked.
Dr Mohammed Haneef was arrested at Brisbane Airport as he tried to board a plane to Pakistan
Again, the Brits luckily dodged a car bombing or two. If those cell phone detonators had worked in London at the Tiger Tiger Club, events would not be so dandy.
Stay tuned for breaking events
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UK Terror Watch: My Son is Not a Terrorist
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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UK Terror Watch: Heathrow Airport Evacuated as Terror Plot Investigation Continues; Update: Scotland Yard is Reporting They Have Rounded Up All Suspects in the London and Glasgow Terror Plots; Update: Gas Canister Pair of Suspects Arrested in Terror Probe; Update: British PM Gordon Brown Has Banned the word “MUSLIM” and “WAR ON TERROR” in Referring to Terror Plot; Update: Glasgow Car Bomb Driver Identified as Dr. Kahlid Ahmed; Update: Same Men Behind Both London and Glasgow Attacks
*****Scroll Down for Updates*****
A vehicle burned on Saturday after it hit a section of Glasgow Airport.
Caring face: Dr Asha with his son Anaf, then two, in Amman, Jordan, last year
Police at Heathrow after Terminal 4 was evacuated
Bomb plot: Heathrow Terminal 4 evacuated
Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 evacuated as police probe suspect package
Thousands of passengers were evacuated from Heathrow’s busy Terminal 4 today in new terror alert after a ‘suspect bag’ was discovered inside.
It brought more chaos to the terminal which is British Airways’ main hub as officials warned of more delays.Airport operator BAA said they were in ‘lock down mode.’
Passengers just moments from boarding were turned back from their flights after the alarm was raised at around 1pm
Planes with passengers already on board were directed away from the terminal.
All passengers inside the building were ordered to evacuate the terminal immediately as police and security services dealt with the ‘suspect bag.’A spokesman for BAA said: “In response to a suspect bag in Terminal 4, secondary searches are now being carried out on departing passengers. This will cause some delays to flights.
“Contingency plans have now been activated to ensure that we are able to effectively manage the increase in resource that this secondary search requires. We are working with the police to bring a swift resolution to the incident.”British Airways said it was monitoring the situation.
In the meantime, the investigation into the doctors who have committed this terror plot continues.
Tip-off: Mohammed Asif Ali quizzed over attack in Glasgow
Dr Mohammed Haneef was arrested at Brisbane Airport as he tried to board a plane to Pakistan
The latest from Australia:
A 27-year-old doctor has been arrested in Australia, while a second doctor is also being interviewed by Australian police.
State and federal police seized Dr Mohammed Haneef at Brisbane International Airport where he was trying to board a flight to Pakistan with a one-way ticket, Attorney General Philip Ruddock said.
He added Dr Haneef, believed to be an Indian citizen, had been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in the state of Queensland. The total number to people arrested over the bomb plan is now eight.
Dr Haneef had been based at Halton Hospital at Runcorn in 2005, near Liverpool. He answered an advert placed in the British Medical Journal in March 2006 to work in Australia, according to Queensland Premier Peter Beattie.
The second man, named locally as Mohammed Asif Ali, was also being questioned but is not thought to be directly linked to the terrorist plot. Sources in Australia said the doctors were neighbours in Brisbane and lived together on Merseyside. A series of searches are also taking place across addresses in Queensland.
To recap as to who is in custody:
And their link to Al Qaeda:
Al Qaeda In Iraq Behind U.K. Bomb Plot?
British intelligence services increasingly believe that the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow bare the fingerprints of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News has learned.
Intelligence sources tell CBS News that the people behind the attempts were directly recruited by Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, the present leader of the terror group’s Iraq franchise.
Police investigating the plot had arrested eight people Tuesday, including at least six suspects trained as doctors, including a man of Indian nationality arrested in Australia. Sources close to the investigation told CBS News on Tuesday that another two or three arrests were likely to be seen in Britain, but that two of the people already in custody were likely to be released without charge.
Sources tell CBS News that al-Muhajir recruited the men between 2004 and 2005, while they were living in the Middle East, upon orders from then-al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Al-Muhajir was told to recruit young men who could easily move into Western countries, assimilate and lay low until the time came to attack. Britain has a fast-track visa program for medical students which makes it easier for them to enter the country.Breaking News: Scotland Yard believes they have all of the suspects rounded up in the London and Glasgow terror plots
Terror Attacks: ‘All Key Suspects Held’
Police investigating the failed terror attacks on London and Glasgow believe they now have their key suspects in custody.
But they stress their inquiries are far from over and say the UK is likely to remain on a critical level of terror alert for some time.
A total of eight people are being held in connection with the failed bombings – the latest an Indian doctor arrested in Australia.
British PM Gordon Brown will be having a presser shortly.
Update 12:33 PM
A store of gas canisters is under guard in Blackburn after locals tipped off officers about two deliveries to a warehouse
‘Gas Canister’ Pair Held In Terror Probe
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of terror offences after they apparently tried to collect a delivery of large gas canisters at an industrial estate in Blackburn.
Lancashire Police say it is too early to say whether the arrests are connected to the attempted terror attacks in Glasgow and London.
The pair, both believed to be Asian and in their 30s or 40s, are being held at a police station in Lancashire under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Officers swooped after the Calor gas canisters were taken to a unit on the Furthergate Industrial Estate in Birley Street.
Eyewitness Cameron Mason said: “A delivery man was waiting outside the unit to drop off around three or four large red gas canisters.
“Two Asian men arrived to collect them and just after they started speaking to the delivery man an unmarked police car turned up.
Both are being held at a police station in Lancashire on suspicion of offences under the Terrorism Act 2000, but a spokesman said it is too early to confirm whether the arrests are linked to the failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.
It is thought officers swooped after two deliveries of gas canisters to the unit in Birley Street on the Furthergate industrial estate.
It is understood that a man wearing a denim jacket and light brown trousers was taken away by police in an unmarked Ford Focus while the second man, wearing a pale top and dark trousers, was driven away in a police BMW. Locals said they are not aware of what the property is used for.
Update 1:14 PM
The Prime Minister has also instructed his team – including new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith – that the phrase “war on Âterror†is to be dropped.The shake-up is part of a fresh attempt to improve community relations and avoid offending Muslims, adopting a more “consensual†tone than existed under Tony Blair.
However, the change provoked claims last night that ministers are indulging in yet more political correctness.The sudden shift in tone emerged in comments by Mr Brown and Ms Smith in the wake of the failed attacks in London and Glasgow.
Mr Brown’s spokesman acknowledged yesterday that ministers had been given specific guidelines to avoid inflammatory language.
“
Mr Brown’s spokesman“There is clearly a need to strike a consensual tone in relation to all communities across the UK,†the spokesman said. “It is important that the country remains united.â€
He confirmed that the phrase “war on terror†– strongly associated with Mr Blair and US President George Bush – has been dropped.
Right…..cover up the fact that the perps were not Islamic extremists. And, of course blame Tony Blair and President Bush.
How stupid and politically correct can these MORONS be?
Update 1:23 PM
Dr. Kahlid Ahmed has been identified as the driver of the Glasgow Car BombIn the meantime, hundreds of flights have been cancelled at Heathrow Airport today:
Evacuated passengers take cover from a sudden rainstorm as police guard the doors to the terminal
Thousands of passengers are today enduring chaotic conditions at Heathrow following a terror alert which closed Terminal Four.
More than 100 flights were cancelled, affecting thousands of passengers, following the discovery of a “suspect bag”.
British Airways cancelled all its European departures from Terminal 4 from 3pm and said there would be no more flights today. It also cancelled all long-haul departures until 9pm and later said the Terminal would be closed until further notice.
BAA said that there would be no departing flights operating from Terminal 4, although planes were still arriving as normal, and the airport was in “lock-down mode”.
Update 2:09 PM
Dr Khalid Ahmed is restrained by police after attack
The attempted attacks on London’s West End and Glasgow airport were allegedly carried out by the same men, Sky sources say.
Sky’s Foreign Affairs editor, Tim Marshall, said the two allegedly planted the car bombs in central London before heading to Scotland.
“We have had it confirmed by sources that the two men who attempted to bomb London, it would appear, are the same two people who allegedly attempted to bomb Glasgow airport,” said Marshall.
“In other words after that failed attempt they quickly went up to Glasgow and arranged this.
“I also understand that Scotland Yard were pretty much on their trail already.”The second man alleged to have been in the flaming jeep driven into Glasgow airport was earlier named by Sky sources as Dr Khalid Ahmed.
He is being treated for severe burns at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Glasgow.
The other man in the vehicle was named yesterday as Dr Bilal Abdulla, who worked as a locum at the hospital.
Stay tuned for breaking news
- Hot Air
- Jihadists posing as doctors | BitsBlog
- The Thunder Run
- British Jihadis Were Recruited by al-Qaeda in Iraq : The American Pundit
- First Round : shotpolitics.com
- Vigilant Freedom/910 Group Blog » “Striking a Consensual Toneâ€
- def Sparse(Matrix): » Blog Archive » More on the London Car Bomb
- SUGIERO
- Stop the Imaginary Decapitations! [Dan Collins]
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UK Terror Watch: My Son is Not a Terrorist
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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UK Terror Watch: Terror “Ringleader” is NHS Doctor; Update: Third Doctor Detained for Questioning in Terror Plot; Update: An Eighth Suspect Has Been Arrested; Update:Terror Suspect Arrested in Brisbane, Australia; Update: Second Doctor Questioned in Australia
*****Scroll Down for Updates*****
Dr Mohammed Asha: Arrested on the M6
Caring face: Dr Asha with his son Anaf, then two, in Amman, Jordan, last year
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
Jamil Abdelqader Asha, a 26-year-old neurologist who was born in Saudi Arabia but is of Palestinian origin and was travelling on a Jordanian passport. He and his 27-year-old wife, a medical assistant, were arrested on the M6 in Cheshire, in connection with the attempted bombings in London.
Dr Asha was arrested with Dana, his wife, in a dramatic chase on the M6 on Saturday. Police in unmarked cars forced the couple off the road before arresting them (SKY)
‘Terror ringleader’ is brilliant NHS doctor
The Latest:
• Controlled explosion carried out at Royal Alexandra Hospital
• Two more men arrested over Airport attack bringing total currently under arrest to seven
• Police search second house in Newcastle-under-Lyme
• Kurdish terror group is linked to London attacksAn Iraqi junior doctor and a brilliant neurologist working for the NHS are among the suspects being quizzed over the series of bomb attacks across Britain, it emerged today.
Details of the suspects were revealed as police staged a controlled explosion at a hospital near Glasgow today.
The junior doctor has been named as Bilal Abdulla, who is said to have completed his medical training in Baghdad.
The suspected ringleader of the Al Qaeda car bombers is a brilliant neurologist working for the NHS.
Saudi Mohammed Asha, 26, was arrested with his 27-year-old wife, who was in traditional Muslim dress, on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday night.
Update 2:23 PM:
Sky News: A third doctor is now being detained in terror invesitgation. This doctor was arrested in Liverpool. Was this the person tasered on Saturday night?
Search for clues: police remove belongings from the home of neurologist Mohammed Asha, 26, in Staffordshire today. He is one of seven men being held over three car bombs.
Dr. Bilal Abdulla? or is this the as of yet unidentified Jhadi detained at scene of Glasgow Airport bombing; Out of harm’s way: Police officers hold down one of the badly-burned men outside the Glasgow arrivals hall moments after he had set himself alight
Three Doctors Held Over Attack
Three doctors are now being held in connection with the attempted Glasgow terror attack – one is an Iraqi doctor who trained in Baghdad.
Sky sources named the Iraqi as Bilal Abdulla – he was left relatively unscathed in the incident, pictured being led away from the explosion by police.
He worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital near Glasgow.
Police blew up a second suspect car outside the hospital on Monday – the first car was detonated on Sunday.
The other man detained at Glasgow airport had severe burns and remains in a critical condition at the Royal Alexandra – he was in the flaming jeep that was driven at one of the airport terminals.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Asha, 26, has been named as a man arrested on the M6 on Saturday night.
The Jordanian was detained with a woman of 27 dressed in traditional Muslim dress, believed to be his wife, on the M6 near Sandbach in Cheshire.
Dr Asha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, worked at the North Staffordshire Hospital, where police have been searching his office.
Dr. Bilal Abdulla arrested at the Glasgow Airport bombing
Bilal Talal Abdul Samad Abdulla, an Iraqi from Baghdad who arrived in the UK in April 2006.
Sources told Sky News that a third man, aged 26, arrested in Liverpool, was a doctor.
He was reported to have worked at Halton Hospital in Cheshire.
A colleague told the Muslim News the doctor may have been detained because he was using the mobile phone and internet account of another man who has left the UK.
Update 3:38 PM
Sky News: An 8th suspect has now been arrested
Update: 7:41 PM
Five Doctors Held Over Attacks
Sources told Sky News that a third man, aged 26, arrested in Liverpool, was also a doctor.
He was reported to have worked at Halton Hospital in Cheshire.
AP: Terror suspect arrested in Brisbane, Australia.
Is this the 8th or 9th suspect in this case?
Doctor, father, husband…bomb suspect
He is Mohammed Asha, 26, a Jordanian-trained neurosurgeon whose family comes originally from Palestine.
Investigators believe a network of up to a dozen medics from the Middle East were sent to infiltrate the Health Service as a cover for terrorist operations.
At least five may have been involved in the plot to bring mass slaughter to the two cities.The details emerged as three more people – two of them trainee doctors – were arrested, bringing the number held to eight.
Worryingly, many of their profiles are quite unlike those of previous suspected followers of Al Qaeda. Dr Asha appeared to be a quiet and studious universityeducated doctor who dreamed of becoming a leading surgeon and raising his family in England as a good Muslim.
He was married to laboratory technician Marwah Dana, 27, a fellow Palestinian, and was said to dote on their son Anaf.
Lax immigration policies from UK former colonies is coming back to bite the Brits in the arse.
Since educated individuals are allowed to emigrate more freely, Flap wonders how many of these “doctors” have emigrated to the United States and whether ICE knows where they are?
Flap wants to know if anyone is home in immigration control?
Update 9:00 PM
Eighth Terror Suspect Held In Australia
Australian police have arrested a man wanted in connection with the terror attacks in Glasgow and London.
The suspect, described as a 27-year-old man, was arrested in the eastern city of Brisbane at the request of British authorities.
He was held at the city’s airport while trying to leave the country, Queensland state leader Peter Beattie said. He said the man was a resident of Brisbane but did not disclose his nationality.
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said the man had been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland.
Sky News has already learnt that five of the eight people now being questioned over the terror attacks are trained doctors.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has confirmed the eighth person taken into custody over the recent British terror attacks, was arrested in Brisbane last night.
The 27 year old Brisbane man was detained at the international airport.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock has revealed more about the joint AFP and Queensland Police operation, saying the man was attempting to leave the country and did not have a return ticket.
The man is now assisting police with their inquiries.
It’s been confirmed he was working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland.
A series of search warrants have been executed, following the arrest, including one on the man’s workplace.
Australian authorities acted on the advice of their British counterparts and are liaising with authorities in the United Kingdom as the investigation continues.
Update 10:30 PM
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has revealed that a second Doctor is being questioned, in relation to the British terror attacks.
Mr Beattie refused to name the person, but said the Doctor is not an Australian citizen.
The second Doctor is being questioned as a precaution and there is no suggestion this person has done anything wrong at this stage.
Mr Beattie has also defended the recruitment process for foreign doctors, saying that appropriate checks were made and that the Commonwealth government is now reviewing the process that both individuals went through.
Eighth Terror Suspect Held In Australia updated
Australian police have arrested a doctor wanted in connection with the terror attacks in Glasgow and London. A second doctor is being questioned.
The suspect, described as a 27-year-old man, was arrested in the eastern city of Brisbane at the request of British authorities.
He was held at the city’s airport while trying to leave the country, Queensland state leader Peter Beattie said. He said the man was a resident of Brisbane but did not disclose his nationality.
Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said the man had been working as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland.
The man, described as a “model citizen” was recruited by the hospital in Liverpool but completed his studies in India.
At least five of the eight people now being questioned over the terror attacks are trained doctors.
Gold Coast doctor arrested over UK bomb plot
The man was arrested at Brisbane International Airport last night and a number of search warrants, including one at the hospital, have been executed across south-east Queensland.
The arrest came as reports from the UK said as many as six doctors with links to UK hospitals had been arrested in connection with the attempted attacks in London and Glasgow over the weekend.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the man is an Australian resident, not a citizen, but he would not say how long he has been working in Australia.
Mr Ruddock did reveal that the man had been carrying a one-way ticket out of Australia when he was arrested.
Reports earlier said the man had been arrested as he tried to board a flight to Singapore.
Stay tuned for breaking news
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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UK Terror Watch: My Son is Not a Terrorist
Asha’s father says son innocent
Asha Not Linked To Terror, Says Dad
The father of one of the men arrested over the failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow has protested his son’s innocence.
Abdul Qader Asha said Dr Mohammed Asha did not have “any links” to terrorism.
Dr Asha, who is Jordanian, was one of two people arrested on the M6 at the weekend.
Speaking from that country, his father insisted that “he has not undertaken any kind of activity of this nature.”He has appealed to Jordan’s King Abdullah to intervene in the case.
Mr Asha, a retired English teacher, said his son’s only goal was to “return from Britain after getting the certificate which he went to specialise in.”
Dr Mohammed Asha: Arrested on the M6
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
Dr Asha began practising in the UK in 2005 after qualifying in Jordan, according to the General Medical Council (GMC).
A spokeswoman said he held a type of provisional limited registration which enabled him to work in the NHS under supervision.
The professional body would wait for the outcome of the police investigation before reviewing his registration, she added.
Asha comes from a family of eight and is described by his father as an exceptionally able student.
He graduated from Jordan university after getting a scholarship.
A vehicle burned on Saturday after it hit a section of Glasgow Airport.
Sky News is reporting that an eighth suspect has been detained and is being interviewed.
Hot Air has Mark Steyn on video commenting on the UK terrorist plots: Steyn seemed to agree that the attacks in London and Glasgow were motivated in part as a welcome to UK PM Gordon Brown.
Stay tuned for breaking news.Previous:
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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UK Terror Watch: Two More Arrests in Car Bomb Plot
A vehicle burned on Saturday after it hit a section of Glasgow Airport.
OVER 36 HOURS… THE TIMETABLE OF TERROR
1.25AM Green Mercedes packed with 13 gallons of petrol, gas cylinders and nails left outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in central London’s Haymarket.
Paramedics treating a drunken reveller spot smoke in the car and call police who defuse the bomb with minutes to spare.
2.30AM Blue Mercedes found illegally parked on nearby Cockspur Street and is ticketed.
3.30AM Second Mercedes is towed to a car pound in Park Lane where employees notice a gas-like smell.
1.15PM Police evacuate the pound as bomb disposal team is called to defuse a device made from two telephones linked to canisters on the back seat. ‘It was pure luck neither device went off,’ said a security source.
1.40PM Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says Britain is ‘currently facing a most serious and sustained’ threat.
3.05PM Scottish police contact a letting agency responsible for a home in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, and ask about the tenants staying there.
3.15PM A blazing Jeep Cherokee crashes into the arrivals hall of Glasgow Airport. An Asian man clutching a Molotov cocktail-type device is held by police and passers-by.
A second Asian man sets himself alight with petrol before fighting with police and security staff.
8PM National terror threat level raised to ‘Critical’ by Jacqui Smith on the advice of MI5. This means further attacks are expected ‘imminently’.
8.40PM Prime Minister Gordon Brown gives televised address to the nation in which he urges ‘vigilance’. His message to the terrorists is: ‘We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life.’
9.30PM Police raid a house rented by a 26-year-old Jordanian born doctor in Newcastleunder-Lyme, Staffordshire.
11.15PM-2AM Stand off involving at least eight armed officers who try to enter a property in Hatherley Street, Liverpool. Three men and one woman are taken away by police, but are released the next day.
11.30PM The Jordanian doctor and a 27-year-old woman wearing a Muslim veil are arrested on the M6 in Cheshire. Seven unmarked police cars containing more than 20 officers box his car on to the hard-shoulder.
The couple are taken to a central London police station for questioning.
12.10PM Police raid an address in Ramilies Road, near Penny Lane, Liverpool.
1AM A 26-year-old man linked to the Ramilies Road house is arrested near Liverpool’s Lime Street station.
4.30AM Police search a house in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, thought to be used by the airport attackers.
Neighbour tells how Asian men moved into the house about three months ago. In the past week one was seen washing a Jeep Cherokee.
2.15PM Controlled explosion is carried out on a car at the Scottish hospital where one of the airport terror attack suspects is being treated.
Saved: One of the would-be Glasgow suicide bombers is bravely hosed down with a fire extinguisher by a security guard as the Jeep Cherokee bursts into flames
New York Times: Britain Arrests Two More in Car Bomb Plot
British police today arrested two more suspects in connection with the attempted car bombings last week in London and Glasgow, the authorities said, bringing the total number of arrests to seven in what the government has described as a plot linked to Al Qaeda.
The Strathclyde police in Scotland said the arrests of the two men, aged 25 and 28, occurred in the Paisley area west of Glasgow, near Glasgow Airport, and followed a night of “intensive police operations.â€
“It’s obviously in connection with the incidents at the airport on Saturday,†a police spokeswoman said.
On Saturday, two men rammed a Jeep Cherokee into the entrance of Glasgow Airport. That followed the incidents in the West End of London on Friday when two car bombs failed to explode.
The police spokeswoman said that neither of the men arrested today are believed to be of “Scottish originâ€. None of the five suspects arrested in operations over the weekend are British citizens, a senior Western official said.
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
Nicked: Doc and wife in a burka
THE suspected ringleader of a plot to unleash a blitz of car bombs on Britain is an Iranian doctor arrested with his burka-clad wife.
Neurologist Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, and his wife, 27, were dramatically held as they drove on the M6 in Cheshire with their two-year-old son.
Five people were being quizzed — at least two of them medics — as it became clear the attacks in London and Glasgow were by the same gang.
Sources said one of two men held while trying to smash a blazing vehicle into a Glasgow Airport terminal on Saturday afternoon is also a doctor, from Iraq.
Security bosses believe the two men in Glasgow also drove two Mercedes cars laden with petrol and gas canisters used in a failed bid to devastate London’s West End early on Friday.
Sky News is reporting that the Iraqi doctor involved in the Glasgow car bomb was trained in Baghdad.
There are now seven suspects in custody.
More updates throughout the day.
Others Blogging:
Previous:
UK Terror Watch: Video – Glasgow Bomb Suspects Shouted “ALLAHâ€
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Links Terrorism and Border Security
Michael Ramirez on John Edwards and the UK Terrorist BombingsTerror in London Watch: Police Have Crystal Clear Image of Car Bomber
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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UK Terror Watch: Five Arrested in Car Bomb Attacks; Update: UK Police Raids in Newcastle – Under-Lyme Connected to Terror; Update: JFK Airport Evacuated in New York; Update: All Clear at JFK; Update: Crevice Gang Behind Terror Plot?; Update: Five Suspects NOT British and Sixth Suspect Sought; Update: Terminal at London’s Heathrow Airport Has Been Closed Due to Suspicious Package; Update: 2 of the 5 Suspects are Medical Doctors Working in the UK; Update: Frontal Image of Terrorist – Police Were on the Trail of Glasgow Bombers; Update: Dr. Mohammed Asha Identified as Glasgow Perp
******Scroll Down for Updates*****
Bomber: An off duty policeman sprays water at a burning bomber who tried to ignite explosives at Glasgow Airport
Five arrested over car bomb terror attacks
Homes searched as risk of attack in Britain is ‘imminent’
Five people have been arrested as Britain moved to its highest state of terror alert after three failed car bombings.
Police are linking an attempt to ram a flaming Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow Airport yesterday to the discovery of two car bombs in London’s West End on Friday.
The two men inside the Jeep were arrested at the airport, although one of them suffered severe burns after being engulfed in flames and is now in a critical condition in hospital.
Anti-terror officers from the Met and West Midlands Police later arrested a further two people on the M6 in connection with all the attacks, Scotland Yard said.The two arrested on the motorway were a 26-year-old man and 27-year-old woman. They are today being interviewed at a central London police station.
A 26-year-old man has also been arrested in Liverpool in connection with the national terror alert.
It is understood that police used a taser gun on this man and that two addresses are being searched in Liverpool.
Police are now searching houses west of Glasgow as the terror alert in Britain remains critical.
“We can confirm that, as part of the ongoing enquiry into the incidents at Glasgow airport and London, a number of houses in the Renfrewshire area are being searched,” police said.
And police officers have also blocked off part of Penny Lane in south Liverpool.
The search: Police cordon off a house in Houston near Glasgow after the terrorist threat in Britain was raised to critical
Extra officers will be deployed to the capital’s landmarks and main train stations, as well as Heathrow Airport and London City Airport, Scotland Yard said.
Police Officers stand on guard in Piccadilly, central London, Sunday, July 1, 2007.
A giant TV screen shows passengers the latest news at Victoria train station, Central London, Sunday, July 1, 2007
Britain’s new prime minister, Gordon Brown, said the country was dealing with terrorists associated with al-Qaida. And Lord Stevens, Brown’s new terrorism adviser, said the two attacks in Britain indicate that “al-Qaida has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the UK.”
And a controlled explosion was just heard at the hospital where Glasgow suspect was taken. There was a suspicious vehicle at the hospital and police detonated it.
U.K. police make 5th terror arrestUpdate 11:17 AM
UK police are now conducting raids in Newcastle-UnderLyme, South of Birmingham, connected with the terror attacks.
Update 11:30 AM
The American Airlines terminal at JFK airport in New York City has been evacuated and the bomb squad called.
Update 11:38 AM
All clear at JFK Airport
Update 11:47 AM
Michelle asks the question: Where in the world is Zeeshan Siddiqui?
Flap had already asked the question about these other control order escapees:
The Observer:How did car bombers slip through the net?
Lamine Adam, 26, his brother Ibrahim, 20 and Cerie Bullivant, 24
We will know shortly if the Brits had these folks and then let them go to terrorize again.
Update 12:43 PM
Glasgow Police News Presser
Appeal for information from the public; learning about people involved in attacks; links between 3 attacks clearer; confident coming days and weeks will understand methods of terrorists and network to which they belong; forensic exam extremely valuable; CCTV material helping to piece together events; will take many weeks to complete; man and woman arrested today being taken to London to be interviewed; not right to give running commentary; due process must be allowed to run its course; public safety is our top priority;
Questions:
Will give no details about people in custody.
More security measures since attacks:
Restrictive zones at all airports; barriers and limited pick up and delivery
More vehicle checks
Update 1:35 PM
Crevice Gang Behind Terror Plot?
Police check Bluewater gang’s links to attempt to bomb clubs
Detectives hunting the West End car bombers believe the suspects are most likely to be home-grown extremists linked to an overlapping network of terrorist cells implicated in previous plots against British targets.
Some may be known to police and be on the run after escaping Home Office control orders.
Those in the frame may be associates of the so-called Crevice gang, which planned to attack the Ministry of Sound nightclub in central London and the Bluewater shopping mall in Kent.Members of the five-man cell, who were jailed for life in April, were directed by “core†Al-Qaeda figures after training in terror camps in Pakistan.
A key member of the Crevice gang was Anthony Garcia. During his trial, an Al-Qaeda supergrass revealed that Garcia’s brother, Lamine Adam, had allegedly wanted to bomb a nightclub and was seeking a formula for explosives.
The supergrass’s testimony was not considered strong enough for prosecution. However, Adam, 26, and his younger brother, Ibrahim, 20, were placed on control orders in February 2006 on the grounds that they planned to kill British soldiers serving abroad.
The two brothers and a friend, Cerie Bullivant, 24, who was put on a control order last July, went on the run six weeks ago. Police think they may have slipped abroad, but they cannot rule out that the trio could still pose a threat within the UK.
Breaking: UK security is now “profiling” travelers at airports – searching them if they fit their profile.
CBS: UK police know the identity of one of the London bombers.
Update 3:08 PM
Sky News: Glasgow Car Bomb did NOT contain nails like London failed bombs. This does not lower the connection between London and Glasgow events – just that they were packed in a different way.
Update 4:32 PM
Sky News: Five suspects are not British citizens and are of Middle Eastern or Asian extraction.
Sixth suspect is wanted and is considered armed and extremely dangerous
Update 4:44 PM
AP: A terminal at Heathrow Airport has been closed due to discovery of a suspicious package
British Muslims Worry About Backlash
Good grief……
MI5 fear bombers were ‘off the radar’
Update 6:02 PM
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.
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.”
Two men were arrested after ramming a Jeep into Glasgow Airport on Saturday and two people were arrested on the M6. A fifth terror related arrest was made in Liverpool after a car was stopped in the Lime Street area of the city.
Update 7:39 PM
Out of harm’s way: Police officers hold down one of the badly-burned men outside the Glasgow arrivals hall moments after he had set himself alight
Daily Mail: Two doctors held over bomb attacks
READ it ALL
Two doctors were among five people being held as terror suspects last night after the bomb plots in London and Glasgow.
One was one of two men who tried to drive a blazing Jeep packed with petrol, gas canisters and nails into Glasgow Airport on Saturday.
Police are still investigating the precise links between that attack and the two Mercedes car bombs left in the West End of London early on Friday.
Both doctors were working at UK hospitals and were apparently here legally.
One of the doctors, the man arrested on the M6, was said to be a Jordanian-born doctor at the North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent.
He lived with his wife and baby in a rented house in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, where forensic officers were carrying out a detailed search last night.
The doctor is suspected of having played a key role in the planning of the terror strikes.One of the two men overpowered as they attacked Glasgow Airport has 90 per cent burns and is too badly injured to be interviewed, but the second was being questioned last night.
Police believe they are all part of a previously unknown Al Qaeda-linked cell made up of people of Middle Eastern origin.
The doctor involved in the Glasgow attack is an Iraqi who is thought to have been granted asylum in the UK while a third suspect comes from Lebanon.
A bomb factory is believed to have been found at an address in Scotland and more arrests are expected.
Police had been close been on the trail of the Glasgow bombers, checking an address linked to them just minutes before they drove their four wheel-drive Jeep Cherokee into the airport arrivals lounge.
Held: The couple are arrested on the M6
The burnt out gas cannisters used to cause the fire at Glasgow Airport on Saturday afternoon
Time Table:
OVER 36 HOURS… THE TIMETABLE OF TERROR
1.25AM Green Mercedes packed with 13 gallons of petrol, gas cylinders and nails left outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in central London’s Haymarket.
Paramedics treating a drunken reveller spot smoke in the car and call police who defuse the bomb with minutes to spare.
2.30AM Blue Mercedes found illegally parked on nearby Cockspur Street and is ticketed.
3.30AM Second Mercedes is towed to a car pound in Park Lane where employees notice a gas-like smell.
1.15PM Police evacuate the pound as bomb disposal team is called to defuse a device made from two telephones linked to canisters on the back seat. ‘It was pure luck neither device went off,’ said a security source.
1.40PM Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says Britain is ‘currently facing a most serious and sustained’ threat.
3.05PM Scottish police contact a letting agency responsible for a home in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, and ask about the tenants staying there.
3.15PM A blazing Jeep Cherokee crashes into the arrivals hall of Glasgow Airport. An Asian man clutching a Molotov cocktail-type device is held by police and passers-by.
A second Asian man sets himself alight with petrol before fighting with police and security staff.
8PM National terror threat level raised to ‘Critical’ by Jacqui Smith on the advice of MI5. This means further attacks are expected ‘imminently’.
8.40PM Prime Minister Gordon Brown gives televised address to the nation in which he urges ‘vigilance’. His message to the terrorists is: ‘We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life.’
9.30PM Police raid a house rented by a 26-year-old Jordanianborn doctor in Newcastleunder-Lyme, Staffordshire.
11.15PM-2AM Stand off involving at least eight armed officers who try to enter a property in Hatherley Street, Liverpool. Three men and one woman are taken away by police, but are released the next day.
11.30PM The Jordanian doctor and a 27-year-old woman wearing a Muslim veil are arrested on the M6 in Cheshire. Seven unmarked police cars containing more than 20 officers box his car on to the hard-shoulder.
The couple are taken to a central London police station for questioning.
12.10PM Police raid an address in Ramilies Road, near Penny Lane, Liverpool.
1AM A 26-year-old man linked to the Ramilies Road house is arrested near Liverpool’s Lime Street station.
4.30AM Police search a house in Neuk Crescent, Glasgow, thought to be used by the airport attackers.
Neighbour tells how Asian men moved into the house about three months ago. In the past week one was seen washing a Jeep Cherokee.
2.15PM Controlled explosion is carried out on a car at the Scottish hospital where one of the airport terror attack suspects is being treated.
Supergrass:
An Al Qaeda supergrass held in the U.S. is to be shown pictures of the terror suspects arrested in Britain in the hope that he can identify them.
Former New York taxi driver Mohammed Junaid Babar, who identified the July 7 ringleader and played a pivotal role in the jailing at the Old Bailey last month of an Al Qaeda cell plotting to blow up London nightclubs, is also likely to be asked to help identify CCTV images of fleeing would-be bombers.
U.S. officials say the image of a man seen running from the Mercedes near the Tiger Tiger club early on Friday “resembled” a suspect arrested previously in connection with the investigation into so-called Al Qaeda “General” Dhiren Barot.
Update 8:22 PM:
Reports that a number of terror suspects on control orders who had absconded might be responsible were dismissed by security sources. Seven suspects have gone missing, but it is thought they have all left the country.
Sources also denied a report from the US that America had warned British intelligence two weeks ago of a plot to attack Glasgow airport.
Update 11:18 PM
Police confident in bombers hunt
Two of those held by police are a 26-year-old man and 27-year-old woman who were arrested on the M6 near Sandbach, Cheshire, on Saturday night.
The man has been identified by the BBC as Dr Mohammed Asha.
Both have been taken to Paddington Green police station in London for questioning.
Glasgow – Burning car driven into doors of Glasgow Airport on Saturday. Two people arrested at sceneLondon – Two car bombs that failed to detonate found in central London on Friday
Paisley – Controlled explosion carried out on car at Royal Alexandra Hospital
Cheshire – Man and woman arrested overnight on M6, then taken to London for questioning
Liverpool – Man arrested. Police searching two addresses
Houston – Police searching houses in village near Glasgow
Newcastle-under-Lyme – Police searching house in Staffordshire
The BBC has learned those arrested are believed to be of varying Middle Eastern nationalities.
Security is also to be stepped up at the Wimbledon Championships, in south-west London, when the tennis tournament resumes on Monday.
Road blocks have been set up in front of the gates to the All England Club.
Stay tuned for breaking developments
Others Blogging:
- JammieWearingFool
- Gubatron
- Michelle Malkin
- Hot Air
- The Discerning Texan
- Ace of Spades HQ
- JammieWearingFool
- A Lady’s Ruminations
Comments
Rudy Giuliani Watch: Rudy Links Terrorism and Border Security
Michael Ramirez on John Edwards and the UK Terrorist BombingsTerror in London Watch: Police Have Crystal Clear Image of Car Bomber
Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United KingdomGlasgow
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Terror in London Watch: Explosives-Packed Car Defused; Update: UK Launches Manhunt for Failed Car Bombers; Update: A Suspect Has Been Identified on Camera; Update:3 sought after 2nd car bomb found in London
******Scroll Down for Updates *******
Will be posted at top of the blog throughout the day for breaking news
A British police forensic officer leaves a blue operations tent that police placed over a vehicle which contains a suspected bomb in the Haymarket area near Piccadilly Circus in central London, Friday June 29, 2007. Explosives officers on Friday dealt with a suspected bomb in a vehicle parked near Piccadilly Circus tube station in central London, making it “safe,” police said. Police did not offer any details about what they called a “potentially viable explosive device” or how they dealt with it
Explosives-Packed Car Defused in LondonPolice 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.
Clarke said police would examine footage from closed-circuit TV cameras in the area.
Thank God the bomb was defused. But, the investigation will continue. Was this the action of Britain’s homegrown terrorists or an outside terrorist attack.
Time will tell.
Related:
Police avert car bomb ‘carnage’
Al Qaeda suspected of massive bomb attack on nightclub
London car bomb ‘packed with nails and gas’
Gas canister bomb ‘an amateur job’
The Mercedes in which the car bomb was found. Gas cylinders can be seen at the rear of the vehicle; in the back seat were petrol canisters and there were also nails in the car.
Update 9:33 AM:
Park Lane closed in London – another suspected vehicle discovered.
Update 9:53 AM
Oxford Street now closed in Central London. There is traffic mayhem. Open double decker buses are implicated.
Update 10:32 AM
London’s Hyde Park is being evacuated.
Update 10:53 AM
Fox News is reporting that Sky News is reporting: Suspicious bus on Park Lane Linked to Haymarket bomb.
Update 11:15 AM
Sky News: Remote detonator found in Haymarket Car Bomb
Breaking: Hyde Park cleared over suspicious car
Police are investigating a suspect vehicle near Hyde Park amid fears that it may be connected to a bomb defused hours earlier nearby.
A police robot is investigating a car and the eastern side of Hyde Park has been evacuated after Park Lane, which borders the park, was closed between Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner at 2.30 this afternoon. A 200m cordon was put in place, cutting off one of London’s major transport arteries and causing further traffic chaos, after reports of a suspicious vehicle.
The dramatic new development comes after an explosive device, consisting of gas cylinders and nails, was found outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub at 2am in The Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London’s tourist district.
11:26 AM
Was London Bomb Plot Heralded On Web?
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.
11:35 AM
Awaiting news conference by London’s Metropolitan Police.
Recap: Two suspect vehicles – one a car bomb with a remote detonating device.
Update 11:47 AM
Suspicious second car being investigated as a suspected car bomb in Park Lane car park – not a bus.
Police say there was enough petrol to fill the trunk of the first car – Mercedes @ Haymarket Street.
Update 11:59 AM
Park Lane vehicle May have been getaway car; several people seen leaving Haymarket car bomb said to be detonated by cell phone remotely; police reviewing security tapes; AP is reporting that British authorities say they have found NO terrorist link.
Update: 12:14 PM
Sky News: Hero Cop May Have Saved Scores Of Lives
Sky News sources say one of the first police officers on the scene of the London West End car bomb may have saved dozens of lives by diffusing the explosives before the bomb squad arrived.
It is believed the quick-thinking cop recognised that the car was wired to blow up, jumped in and disconnected the trigger device, thought to be a mobile phone.
This backs up an eye-witness account of a police officer briefly entering the metallic green Mercedes before running for cover.
Amazing……
Stay tuned for breaking news.
When will the Metro police identify and arrest the miscreants?
Update: 12:27 PM
Sky News: Fleet Street has been closed due to another suspect vehicle discovered.
Update: 1:04 PM
British government: massive manhunt now under way.
Update: 2:00
The American FBI is now assisting the Brits in manhunt for failed car bomb suspects.
From the Counterterrorism Blog:
This type of car bombing plot is typical of other British Jihadist car bomb plots in the past, including both the July 2005 bomb plots, and the Dhiren Barot Jihadist group bomb plots.
— In July 2005, a number of bombs and components, some packed with nails to cause death and maximum injury, were recovered from a car parked by the July 7 bombers at Luton station.
— British Jihadist Dhiren Barot pleaded guilty to plotting a series of attacks, including detailed plans to explode limousines packed with gas cylinders, explosives and nails after leaving them in underground London parking garages or hotels.But, yet no links to terrorism……..
Update 2:42 PM
“It’s something you get used to, living in Londonâ€
“It’s something you get used to, living in London,†said Andrew Fowler, a 39-year-old lawyer who was sipping coffee at an outdoor café near Piccadilly Circus.
“And given the stance our government made on the war in Iraq and elsewhere, I think we are just getting used to being a target,†he said. “It’s something we have to live with.â€
Of course, it is Iraq. As if Islamic or Irish terrorists were not using car bombs before the Iraq War. Now Flap awaits some Brit to blame President Bush.
And, of course, these weapons are from Iraq – that is where they learned how to make them.
Gad, man, these Iraqi IED’s in Iraq are made in Iran and exported there.
Bomb components found in second car on London street
A second car found on a London street on Friday contained possible bomb materials, sources told CNN, hours after police disarmed an explosives-filled car in the city’s busy theater district.
The second car was towed from Trafalgar Square to Park Lane overnight, because it was illegally parked, the sources said.
At the Park Lane garage, workers called authorities when they became suspicious after news of the first incident, because the car smelled of gas.
Police and security sources say the car was found to contain components very similar to the first car — definitely fuel, and possibly much more.
They said the car is of grave concern, and could potentially be a second car bomb.
A senior U.S. official with knowledge of the London investigation told CNN the car was linked to the vehicle outside the club, and that some materials found inside the car were very similar to explosive materials found in the car near Piccadilly Circus.
A section of Fleet Street was also cordoned off briefly, then reopened without incident.OMG it might be a plot! But, by whom?
Update 3:33 PM
Awaiting Scotland Yard Newser on London Car bombs.
Accomplice of AQ henchman Barot suspected; tried to detonate bomb twice.
Sky News:Second bomb found on Park Lane; strengthens case that Al Qaeda was involved.
Update 3:48 PM
Scotland Yard explains about second Mercedes car bomb. Fuel and Nails. The two vehicles are clearly linked; there will be more police patrols; public needs to be alert and shall dial 999 if they see any other suspicious vehicles; no questions only the statement.
Second car bomb found in London’s Park Lane
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 apparently towed into a car park pound beneath London’s Park Lane after being found illegally parked in the West End of the city.
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.
The chilling message, posted on a jihadist internet forum, warned: “Today, I say, Rejoice, by Allah, London shall be bombed.”
Meanwhile, an international manhunt was launched tonight to find the gang – believed to be linked to al Qaeda – that came within moments of blowing up hundreds of revellers in a London nightclub.
Update 3:59 PM
Police expect search for suspects to extend outside London.
At Haymarket: The car, believed to be a silver Mercedes, was driven into bins and the driver ran off.
Update 4:04 PM
3 sought after 2nd car bomb found in London
British authorities were seeking three men after police defused a car bomb that they said could have caused “significant injury or loss of life†overnight in London. Late Friday, police discovered a second car carrying similar explosives, British and U.S. officials told NBC News.The three men are believed to be from the Birmingham area, a center of radical Islamic unrest in Britain, said U.S. officials who had been briefed on the developments.
Islamist terrorist suspects convicted in recent London cases have spoken of moving up to more deadly fuel-air explosives, authorities said. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said earlier this year that “vehicle-borne weaponry is the greatest danger that we can face.â€
Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, was examining possible connections with two other foiled plots, a planned attack on a West End nightclub in 2004 and a thwarted attempt to use limousines packed with gas canisters to attack targets in London and New York, the official said.
A Most Lethal Anti-Personnel Bomb Defused: Anatomy of a Bomb in London
ABC News has learned the bomb was composed of tanks of propane, butane and 125 liters of gasoline (33 U.S. gallons), roofing nails and a fuse that initial reports indicated was constructed of simple light bulb or flashbulb filaments and designed to be triggered by a mobile telephone.
London authorities investigating the case and U.S. authorities monitoring it say the Mercedes car bomb, if correctly made, could have sent a shrapnel-filled fireball into the air, maiming and killing people in a several hundred yard radius that included a popular nightclub.
Based on an initial forensic investigation, authorities say they believe the fuel-air mixture was incorrect and ultimately led the bomb to fail.
Those folks in the nightclub Tiger Tiger should consider themselves very lucky.
New York is taking extra precautions.
New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the London case was reminiscent of the July 2004 case, in which terrorists planned to use gas and bomb-laden vehicles to blow up financial targets in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
“This looks similar to the plans that were uncovered then. But there is no indication at this time that there is a link to al Qaeda or any organized terrorist group,” Kelly said. “Our Joint Terrorism Task Force chief is in London now, talking to British authorities, and we’re going to continue to monitor over the weekend. We will have additional resources in place until we have a better understanding of what is transpiring. “
Kelly said in the aftermath of the London discovery, New York police stepped up patrols at Times Square, Herald Square, the Theater District and inside subways and instituted vehicle stops at bridges and tunnels.
Update 5:32 PM
Fox News: Police in Britain are looking for associates of Dhiren Barot because of the methods and materials of the car bombs.
August 3, 2004.[1] He was charged by the UK authorities with the following offenses:
- Conspiracy to commit murder.
- Conspiracy to commit a public nuisance by the use of radioactive materials, toxic gases, chemicals and or explosives.
- Possessing detailed reconnaissance on the Prudential Building in New Jersey.
- Possessing detailed reconnaissance of the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, the New York Stock Exchange and Citigroup in New York, and two notebooks with information on explosives.[6]
Barot admitted to plotting to bomb the New York Stock Exchange, the International Monetary Fund headquarters, and the World Bank, among other targets. His accused co-conspirators are Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, 24; Abdul Aziz Jalil, 31; Omar Abdul Rehman, 20; Junade Feroze, 28; Zia ul Haq, 25; Qaisar Shaffi, 25; and Nadeem Tarmohammed, 26, Britons of Pakistani origin, most of Mirpuri descent.
Much of the information about Barot’s role in the planning of further al-Qaeda attacks came from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a prominent al-Qaeda operative captured by the Pakistani ISI. A witness stated that he attended Camp Hudaybiyah, run by the Jemaah Islamiyah group, where he was instructed in small arms training, mortars, basic explosives handling, navigation and jungle patrolling [7].
The prosecution did not dispute claims from the defence that no funding had been received for the projects, nor any vehicles or bomb-making materials acquired. [8]
On 7 November 2006 Barot was sentenced to life imprisonment, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to murder; it was recommended that he serve a minimum of 40 years. [9]
In May 2007 his sentence was reduced to 30 years. The Court of Appeal, headed by Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, said that the 40 year sentence was for a terrorist who planned murder by a “viable” means. It was also stated that Barot’s plot did not amount to an actual attempt and it was uncertain whether they would have succeeded and what the consequences might have been.[10]
London tonight is on tightened alert .
Update 5:42 PM
Lamine Adam, 26, his brother Ibrahim, 20 and Cerie Bullivant, 24
Sandcrawler PSA: Can We Panic Yet?
These are three of the seven terrorist suspects who are fugitives in Britain after walking away from so called control orders. If anyone has images of the other four suspects, please email them to us and we’ll post them here.
Via The Telegraph: The Government’s system of control orders for monitoring terror suspects was further undermined today after it emerged that yet another has disappeared.In a statement to Parliament, the police minister, Tony McNulty, said the unidentified man, understood to be an Iraqi, had not been seen since Monday night.
He had been on the control order since November 2005. He is the seventh of 17 men supposedly being monitored under the controversial system to go on the run….
….The Home Office, which imposes control orders on the advice of the security service, refused to say whether he was one of six Iraqis arrested in 2005 in what was believed to be the final stages of a plot to explode car bombs in the UK.
The Home Secretary was forced by the courts to water down the conditions of their orders, which came close to house arrest.
Could these be the men wanted by the Brits?
If anyone in Britain has seen these men call 0800 789 321 – Britsh Counter Terrorism Hotline.
Update 10:26 PM
Nightclub bomb alert issued two weeks ago
Nightclubs across Britain were warned they could be terrorist targets just days before yesterday’s attempted double car-bomb attack in London, The Times has learnt.
Two cars packed with petrol, nails and “patio gas†canisters were left primed to wreak destruction among London clubbers making their way home after a Thursday night out. Only the vigilance and courage of ambulancemen and police officers prevented massive loss of life.
One car, a pale green Mercedes, had been left outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket. A second, a blue Mercedes, was left a few hundred yards away in Cockspur Street, a busy thoroughfare close to Trafalgar Square. This vehicle was towed away at 3:30am on Friday to an car pound on Park Lane by unsuspecting parking officials.
Had either device gone off it would have generated a huge fireball and a shockwave spreading over 400 yards in all directions. If, as suspected, one had been primed to detonate before the other, people fleeing the first blast could have been caught by the second.
So, in other words, one car would go off and when panic ensued and people ran then the second would be set off to burn them.
But, the nightclubs were warned two weeks ago.
The manhunt continues.
The attempted bombing in London’s Haymarket area came one week before the second anniversary of the July 7 bombings that killed 52 people on London’s transportation network.
Also Friday, a London jury was expected to hand down a verdict in the case against five young men who were charged with trying to blow up city buses and trains in 2005.
The men, all from London, were arrested after police found homemade devices on trains and buses that had failed to detonate properly — sending puffs of smoke from backpacks that frightened commuters, but injured no one.
Early reports from law enforcement officials indicate that the car bomb found Friday morning may also have failed to detonate properly — causing smoke to appear in the passenger area. It was the smoke that prompted people to call explosives officers to the scene.
Terror in London: The London 7/7 Attack Who Did it?
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Technorati Tags: London, Global War on Terror, United Kingdom
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Suicide Bombers Dispatched to Europe and USA
Inside a Taliban ‘Graduation’
The “graduation” took place on June 9 somewhere in the tribal areas along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.Exclusive: Suicide Bomb Teams Sent to U.S., Europe
Large teams of newly trained suicide bombers are being sent to the United States and Europe, according to evidence contained on a new videotape obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
Teams assigned to carry out attacks in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany were introduced at an al Qaeda/Taliban training camp graduation ceremony held June 9.
A Pakistani journalist was invited to attend and take pictures as some 300 recruits, including boys as young as 12, were supposedly sent off on their suicide missions.
Tighten up the borders and start the profiling, Homeland Security.
And to think the United States Senate is considering an amnesty plan for illegal aliens, when the United States cannot identify who is currently in the country.
No wonder they were skiddish at the White House today.
This group is prepared to attack Germans. Germany has been a target of the Taliban and al Qaeda since its troops joined the NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Technorati Tags: Taliban, al Qaeda, Mansoor Dadullah
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Iran Watch: U.S. – NATO has Intercepted Iranian Arms Shipments to the Taliban
U.S.: NATO has intercepted Iranian arms
NATO has intercepted Iranian weapons shipments to Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, providing evidence Iran is violating international law to aid a group it once considered a bitter enemy, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.
“There’s irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this,” Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on CNN. “It’s certainly coming from the government of Iran. It’s coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government.”
Speaking separately to The Associated Press, Burns said NATO must act to stop the shipments. The Iran-Afghanistan frontier is “a very long border. But the Iranians need to know that we are there and that we’re going to oppose this.”“It’s a very serious question,” he said, adding that Iran is in “outright violation” of
U.N. Security Council resolutions.The State Department later appeared to step back from Burns’ assertion the Iranian government was directly involved in the transfers but stressed Washington has proof that weapons from Iran were being sent to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
“We absolutely are certain that there are Iranian-origin weapons flowing into Afghanistan to the Taliban,” spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.
“We do not know the extent of any Iranian government involvement at this point, but given the nature of the regime and also some of its past behaviors elsehwhere — whether in the Palestinian areas or in Iraq — it certainly raises very serious questions and we are quite concerned about it,” he said.
Tehran, which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, denies it is aiding the Taliban, calling the accusation part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign. Iran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.
Burns acknowledged that it was “curious” that Iran would aid the Taliban. “It’s quite surprising,” he told CNN. “The Iranians had said that they were the mortal enemies of the Taliban in 2001 and ’02.”
And Iran is helping Iraq insurgents kill America soldiers in Iraq. The United States is now in a two front proxy war against Iran.
President Bush, when will you call Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Mullahs out? When will direct military intervention begin?
Flap bets soon.
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Lieberman – “Aggressive Military Action†Against Iran
Technorati Tags: IranTaliban, Ahmadinejad