"Evil Plotters Not Done Yet - Brace for more Attacks, U.K. Warns"

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Evil Plotters Not Done Yet - Brace for more Attacks, U.K. Warns 
By Eric Lenkowitz
The New York (NY) Post


British authorities ominously warned yesterday that there will "very likely"
be more terror attacks after the fiery SUV crash at Scotland's Glasgow
Airport and the foiled London car-bomb plot. 

Five suspects, including two doctors, have been arrested. 

"There is a group of individuals out there who have the capability and the
intent to carry out attacks in the U.K.," a source told The Times of London.
"In our judgment, it is very likely there will be further attacks." 

The security level in the United Kingdom was raised to "critical" - meaning
an attack is believed imminent - after the Scotland strike. 

The grim forecast comes as British authorities busted three more people
during an intense manhunt for suspects in the previous attacks, raising the
total of those in custody to five. 

Although no details were released, CNN and Sky News reported yesterday that
two of the suspects are medical doctors. The BBC reported that none of the
five was British but came from "various Middle Eastern countries," and one
prime suspect was at large. 

Meanwhile, a report emerged that U.S. intelligence officials were warned
about a possible strike at Glasgow Airport two weeks ago. 

The warning specifically mentioned "airport infrastructure or airport" in
Glasgow and gave a similar caution for the Czech Republic, according to ABC
News. 

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff refused to comment on the
reported warning, telling ABC only that "whatever information the U.S.
government and intelligence community had was shared very readily with our
British counterparts." 

In New York City, police brass issued their own "Threat Analysis" in the
wake of the Glasgow attack, specifically mentioning night spots as potential
targets for terrorists. 

"Attacks on soft targets such as nightclubs have long been considered a
vulnerability in the U.S.," the report said, warning residents that car
bombs also have "been long regarded as a viable threat in NYC." 

Two bomb scares hit the city yesterday, when a suspicious package was found
at JFK Airport, prompting a brief evacuation of the American Airlines
terminal, and a truck with a hazardous material warning was discovered
parked under the West Side Highway. Neither the package nor truck contained
anything dangerous. 

The suspects in Saturday's fiery explosion of a fuel-laden Jeep Cherokee at
the front of the Scotland airport's main terminal have been linked to al
Qaeda, British authorities confirmed. 

"Al Qaeda has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the
U.K.," said Lord John Stevens, London's former police chief and new Prime
Minister Gordon Brown's terrorism adviser. 

Brown said the threat of attacks on British soil is "long-term and
sustained. We are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated
with al Qaeda." 

Security sources said the timing and location of the attack show it was
meant to coincide with Brown's first days in office. The new prime minister
is from Scotland. It also comes a week before the two-year anniversary of
the July 7, 2005, terror bombings on London's transit system, which killed
52. 

The suspect identified as the Glasgow SUV's driver was in critical condition
at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, near the airport, with severe burns
suffered when he doused himself with gasoline and set himself ablaze. 

He was shouting, "Allah! Allah!" as he was dragged away by cops, one witness
said. 

The driver and his accomplice were under arrest, along with a 26-year-old
man and a 27-year-old woman picked up along a major highway in the northern
England town of Cheshire. 

A fifth person - a 26-year-old man - was nabbed in Liverpool, which is more
than 200 miles south of Glasgow. He has been directly linked to both the
Glasgow attack and the latest London terror bid, according to The Times of
London. Scottish police denied reports that investigators found the charred
body of a third man in the SUV at the airport. 

The attack - which could have caused significant damage if gas canisters in
the SUV had exploded - was connected to Friday's foiled twin car bombings in
central London, officials said. 

"We are learning a great deal about the people involved in the attacks here
in Glasgow and in the attempted attacks in central London. The links between
them are becoming ever clearer," said Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's
counter terrorist unit. 

"I'm confident, absolutely confident, that in the coming days and weeks, we
will be able to gain a thorough understanding of the methods used by the
terrorists, the way in which they planned their attacks, and the network to
which they belong."

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