CIAO DATE: 09/2008
July 2007
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
There are fast-moving developments in the British hunt for the terrorist cell that tried to set off two car bombs in central London on June 29. Two men were arrested after they tried to crash a vehicle loaded with flammable material into a Glasgow airport terminal on June 30. And a man and woman were arrested yesterday when their vehicle was stopped on the major highway between London and Scotland. Houses have been searched in several parts of Britain, and the number detained rose to eight today, including one in an undisclosed foreign country.
After the attacks, British prime minister Gordon Brown, who only replaced Tony Blair on June 27, stated, "[I]t is clear that we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al-Qaeda." Despite the failure of the two London car bombs to detonate and the apparent bungling of the Glasgow airport attack, there is public concern that the terrorist cell was apparently unknown to British security services. Last year, then-head of the British Security Service (MI5) Eliza Manningham-Buller said she knew of thirty plots threatening the United Kingdom and 1,600 individuals who were under surveillance.
Resource link: PolicyWatch #1256: Terrorist Attacks in the United Kingdom: More Faces of al-Qaeda [PDF] - 13K