Britain foils airline plot

LONDON — Police crushed a plot yesterday to commit “mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” arresting 24 Muslims who planned to blow up more than 10 jetliners bound for the United States using liquid bombs hidden in handbags and assembled on board.

Officials said they were confident that they had nabbed the primary terrorists in the planned attack, which could have matched the death toll of September 11, 2001, had it been successful.

However, five suspects remained at large and were the subject of an intense manhunt, intelligence officials told The Washington Times.

British officials said 24 suspects had been arrested. Most were thought to be young Britons of Pakistani origin. Pakistan said that it had played a key role in uncovering the plot and that it had made several arrests.

“This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation,” President Bush said.

The plan, said to be ready for a dress rehearsal within days, would have used liquid or gel-like explosives in carry-on luggage to blow up jetliners headed for Washington, New York and California.

Security officials said the terrorists planned to target at least three major U.S. airlines — American, Continental and United.

“We think this was an extraordinarily serious plot, and we are confident that we’ve prevented an attempt to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale,” said Paul Stephenson, deputy commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police.

The plot appeared to have the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda terrorist organization, and the plotters “were really getting quite close to the execution stage,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said.

CNN reported that at least two of the suspects had made “martyrdom” recordings, to be played after their deaths.

British anti-terror police swooped down on homes and businesses in London, Birmingham and the Thames Valley west of the capital beginning Wednesday night and into yesterday morning.

Britain and the United States issued heightened terrorist alerts and imposed rules restricting carry-on baggage and banning liquids such as water and soft drinks, as well as cosmetics such as lipstick.

Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency for the first time raised the security threat to the highest level, from “severe” to “critical,” which it said meant “an attack is expected imminently.”

The security clampdown precipitated chaos at airports in Europe and the United States, forcing cancellations or delays of hundreds of flights.

London’s Heathrow Airport, Britain’s largest airport, was particularly hard hit at the height of the tourist season, when it usually handles 180,000 to 200,000 passengers daily.

Story Continues →