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British
authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot
to simultaneously blow up 10 aircraft heading to the U.S.
using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what
police described as "mass murder on an unimaginable
scale."
 Police
arrested 24 people, saying they were confident they
captured the main suspects in what U.S. officials said was
a plot in its final phases that had all the earmarks of an
al-Qaida operation. However, ABC News quoted unidentified
U.S. officials who had been briefed on the plot as saying
five suspects were still at large and being urgently
hunted.
President Bush called the plot a "stark
reminder" of the continued threat to the United States
from extremist Muslims.
Britain disclosed no details about the plot
or those arrested, although one police official indicated
the people in custody were British residents. A French
official in contact with British authorities described the
arrested as originating from predominantly Muslim
Pakistan.
Officials raised security to its highest
level in Britain - suggesting a terrorist attack might be
imminent - and banned carry-on luggage on all flights.
Huge crowds backed up at security barriers at London's
Heathrow airport as officials searching for explosives
barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby
formula.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff said the terrorists planned to use liquid
explosives disguised as beverages and other common
products and set them off with detonators disguised as
electronic devices.
An American law enforcement official who
was briefed on the investigation said it appeared the
liquid to be used was a "peroxide-based solution" to be
detonated by an electronic device that was not specified,
but could be anything from a disposable camera to a
portable digital music player. The official spoke on
condition of anonymity because British authorities had
asked that no information be released.
The extreme measures at a major
international aviation hub sent ripples throughout the
world. Heathrow was closed to most flights from Europe,
and British Airways canceled all its flights between the
airport and points in Britain, Europe and Libya. Numerous
flights from U.S. cities to Britain were canceled.
Washington raised its threat alert to its
highest level for commercial flights from Britain to the
United States amid fears the plot had not been completely
crushed. The alert for all flights coming or going from
the United States was also raised slightly.
 Two
U.S. counterterrorism officials said the terrorists had
targeted United, American and Continental airlines. They
spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the case.
A U.S. intelligence official said the
plotters had hoped to target flights to major airports in
New York, Washington and California. A counterterrorism
official said the plot involved 10 flights.
British authorities said 24 people were
arrested in London, its suburbs and Birmingham following a
lengthy investigation, including the alleged "main
players" in the plot. Searches continued in a number of
locations, and police cordoned off streets in several
locations.
Bush said during a visit to Green Bay,
Wis., that the foiled plot was a "stark reminder that this
nation is at war with Islamic fascists." Despite increased
security since Sept. 11, he warned, "It is a mistake to
believe there is no threat to the United States of
America."
ABC News quoted sources as saying Western
intelligence agencies had identified three of the alleged
ringleaders. It said two were believed to have traveled
recently to Pakistan and later had money wired to them
from Pakistan, purportedly to purchase airline tickets for
suicide bombers.
While British officials declined to
publicly identify the 24 suspects, French Interior
Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said in Paris they "appear to be
of Pakistani origin." He did not give a source for his
description, but said French officials had been in close
contact with British authorities.
Pakistan's government said later its
intelligence agents helped Britain crack the plot and had
arrested some suspects.
"Pakistan played a very important role in
uncovering and breaking this international terrorist
network," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tasnim Aslam said,
but she declined to give details.
The suspects arrested in Britain were
"homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if they
were all British citizens, said a British police official
who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with
the South Asian community, the official said.
The suicide bombing assault on London
subway trains and a bus on July 7, 2005, was carried out
by Muslim extremists who grew up in Britain.
 The
police official said the plotters intended to
simultaneously target multiple planes bound for the United
States.
"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,"
Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, vacationing in
the Caribbean, briefed Bush on the situation Wednesday.
Blair issued a statement praising the cooperation between
the two countries, saying it "underlines the threat we
face and our determination to counter it."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush
also had been briefed by his aides while at his ranch in
Crawford, Texas, where he has been on vacation.
"We do believe the plot involved flights
from the U.K. to the U.S. and was a direct threat to the
United States," Snow said.
While Snow called the plot a serious
threat, he assured Americans that "it is safe to travel."
Chertoff, the homeland security chief, said
the plot had the hallmarks of an operation planned by
al-Qaida, the terrorist group behind the Sept. 11 attack
on the United States.
"It was sophisticated, it had a lot of
members and it was international in scope. It was in some
respects suggestive of an al-Qaida plot," Chertoff said,
but he cautioned it was too early in the investigation to
reach any conclusions.
It is the first time the red alert level in
the Homeland Security warning system has been invoked,
although there have been brief periods in the past when
the orange level was applied. Homeland Security defines
the red alert as designating a "severe risk of terrorist
attacks."
"We believe that these arrests (in London)
have significantly disrupted the threat, but we cannot be
sure that the threat has been entirely eliminated or the
plot completely thwarted," Chertoff said.
He added, however, there was no indication
of current plots within the United States.
Chertoff said the plotters were in the
final stages of planning. "We were really getting quite
close to the execution phase," he said, adding that it was
unclear if the plot was linked to the upcoming fifth
anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official
said authorities believe dozens of people - possibly as
many as 50 - were involved in the plot. The official spoke
on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of
the situation.
The plan involved airline passengers hiding
masked explosives in carry-on luggage, the official said.
"They were not yet sitting on an airplane," but were very
close to traveling, the official said, calling the plot
"the real deal."
 Passengers
in Britain faced delays as tighter security was hastily
enforced at the country's airports and additional measures
were put in place for all flights. Laptop computers,
mobile phones, digital music players, and remote controls
were among the items banned from being carried on board.
Liquids, such as hair care products, were
also barred on flights in both Britain and the U.S.
In the mid-1990s, officials foiled a plan
by terrorist mastermind Ramzi Youssef to blow up 12
Western jetliners simultaneously over the Pacific. The
alleged plot involved improvised bombs using liquid hidden
in contact lens solution containers.
Huge lines formed at ticket counters and
behind security barriers at Heathrow and other airports in
Britain.
Ed Lappen, 55, a businessman from Boston,
who was traveling with his wife and daughter to Russia,
found himself unable to travel further. "We're safe, we're
OK," he said at Heathrow. "Now my daughter is going to get
a shopping trip in London."
Hannah Pillinger, 24, seemed less concerned
by the announcement. "Eight hours without an iPod, that's
the most inconvenient thing," she said, waiting at the
Manchester airport.
Most European carriers canceled flights to
Heathrow because of the massive delays created after
authorities enforced strict new regulations banning most
hand baggage.
Tony Douglas, Heathrow's managing director,
said the airport hoped to resume normal operations Friday,
but passengers would still face delays and a ban on cabin
baggage "for the foreseeable future."
Security also was stepped up at train
stations serving airports across Britain, said British
Transport Police spokeswoman Jan O'Neill. At London's
Victoria Station, police patrolled platforms with
bomb-sniffing dogs as passengers boarded trains carrying
clear plastic bags.
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