brianna
08-10-2006, 08:32 AM
I hope its ok to post this
BBC News website
Last Updated: Thursday, 10 August 2006, 14:16 GMT 15:16 UK
'Airlines terror plot' disrupted
A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.
It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.
Police are searching premises after 21 people were arrested. Home Secretary John Reid said they believed the "main players" were accounted for.
High security is causing delays at all UK airports.
The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical after the arrests in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham. Critical threat level - the highest - means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK".
Three US airlines are believed to have been targeted.
Mr Reid said had the attack gone ahead it would have caused a loss of life of "unprecedented scale". He said they were "confident" the main players were in custody, but neither the police nor government are "in any way complacent".
Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday in the Caribbean, paid tribute to the the police and the security services. He said they had tracked the situation for a "long period of time" and had "been involved in an extraordinary amount of hard work. I thank them for the great job they are doing in protecting our country. There has been an enormous amount of co-operation with the US authorities which has been of great value and underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it," he said in a statement.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the plot was thought to have involved a series of "waves" of simultaneous attacks, targeting three planes each time. He also said the plan "revolved around liquids of some kind".
"Officials say the explosives would have been sophisticated and extremely effective," our correspondent said.
BBC News 24 TV channel is reporting that one British official has been quoted as saying this could have been worse than Sept 11th had it not been thwarted.
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BBC News website
Last Updated: Thursday, 10 August 2006, 14:16 GMT 15:16 UK
'Airlines terror plot' disrupted
A plot to blow up planes in flight from the UK to the US and commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" has been disrupted, Scotland Yard has said.
It is thought the plan was to detonate explosive devices smuggled in hand luggage on to as many as 10 aircraft.
Police are searching premises after 21 people were arrested. Home Secretary John Reid said they believed the "main players" were accounted for.
High security is causing delays at all UK airports.
The threat level to the UK has been raised by MI5 to critical after the arrests in London, High Wycombe and Birmingham. Critical threat level - the highest - means "an attack is expected imminently and indicates an extremely high level of threat to the UK".
Three US airlines are believed to have been targeted.
Mr Reid said had the attack gone ahead it would have caused a loss of life of "unprecedented scale". He said they were "confident" the main players were in custody, but neither the police nor government are "in any way complacent".
Prime Minister Tony Blair, on holiday in the Caribbean, paid tribute to the the police and the security services. He said they had tracked the situation for a "long period of time" and had "been involved in an extraordinary amount of hard work. I thank them for the great job they are doing in protecting our country. There has been an enormous amount of co-operation with the US authorities which has been of great value and underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it," he said in a statement.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the plot was thought to have involved a series of "waves" of simultaneous attacks, targeting three planes each time. He also said the plan "revolved around liquids of some kind".
"Officials say the explosives would have been sophisticated and extremely effective," our correspondent said.
BBC News 24 TV channel is reporting that one British official has been quoted as saying this could have been worse than Sept 11th had it not been thwarted.
:(