LONDON – British police arrested a fifth person Sunday and raided homes in three cities in connection with attempted car bombings that officials say are connected to al-Qaida.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who took over from Tony Blair on Wednesday, said in a nationally televised interview that “we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al-Qaida.”
Britain raised its terror alert to the highest possible level.
On Friday, police in London found two Mercedes sedans packed with propane gas, gasoline and nails and said the drivers intended to detonate them and kill as many people as possible.
On Saturday in Glasgow, two men crashed a Jeep containing propane gas canisters into the main terminal of the Glasgow Airport, setting it on fire. Those two men are in custody, and a government security official told the Associated Press they were struggling to pin down their identities.
“These are not the type of people who always carry identity documents, or who use their real identities,” the official said.
The driver, who witnesses said tried to immolate himself, suffered severe burns and is in critical condition in a Scottish hospital. Outside that hospital Sunday, police carried out a “controlled explosion” on a suspicious car but did not find explosives.
“Extremely valuable” forensic information was found in the two Mercedes sedans, said Peter Clarke, Scotland Yard’s chief of anti-terrorism operations. He said links between the Glasgow and London attempted bombings were becoming “ever clearer.”
In addition to the two men involved in the Glasgow attack, a 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were arrested in central England after police in unmarked vehicles forced their car off a major highway. A 26-year-old man was also arrested in Liverpool.
According to new anti-terrorism legislation, police can hold the suspects – if a judge agrees – for as long as 28 days without charge.
Though police have not released details of those in custody, several witnesses at the airport said the men appeared to be of South Asian descent. CNN and Sky News reported late Sunday night that two of the five people in custody were medical doctors.
The BBC reported that none were British but came from “various Middle Eastern countries” and that one prime suspect was still at large.
Terrorism analysts said it seemed that the timing and location of the planned attacks were intended to coincide with Brown’s first days of office. They also noted that Brown is Scottish.
“That was probably a major factor in this,” said M.J. Gohel, chief executive of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London think tank that specializes in security issues. “Otherwise, it makes no sense as to why they would pick that particular moment as well as Glasgow as a target.”
Scottish police, who encouraged the many witnesses at Glasgow Airport to hand over any cell phone and camera images of incident, said they were receiving about 100 calls an hour from the public.
“We will not yield, we will not be intimidated, and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life,” Brown said. The country can expect “a long-term and sustained attack on values we represent” by extremists using different weapons, “whether planes or cars,” he said.
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