Glasgow Realtor: Cops On Trail Before Bomb

Separately, No Police Comment On Reports Two Of Five Terror Suspects Arrested Are MDs

(CBS/AP)  British officials intensified the hunt Sunday for what they called an al Qaeda-linked network behind three attempted terrorist attacks, announcing a fifth arrest and conducting pinpoint raids across a country on its highest level of alert.

Britain's Sky News and The Sun, Daily Express and Daily Telegraph newspapers are reporting that two of the men arrested were hospital doctors. Police have refused to comment on the claim.

Separately, a realtor in Glasgow is reporting that police were police were on the trail of the Glasgow airport bomb suspects minutes before the attack.

Daniel Gardiner of the Let-It agency said officers had contacted his company after tracking phone records linked to the foiled London car bomb attacks.

He says police left a card at the home of a colleague on Saturday, asking him to get in touch with authorities.

"The card was put through prior to the incident at Glasgow Airport," says Gardiner, adding that police were interested in the tenant who had taken a six-month lease on a house.

Police on Sunday searched a property rented by Gardiner's company in Houston, near Glasgow Airport. Gardiner says police interviewed staff at the Let-It office and took away all documentation about the tenant.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "it is clear that we are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated with al Qaeda." He warned Britons that the threat would be "long-term and sustained" but said the country would not be cowed by the plot targeting central London and Glasgow's airport.

"We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life," he said in a nationally televised interview.

A British government security official said a loose U.K.-wide network appeared to be behind the attacks but investigators were struggling to pin down suspects' identities — even two arrested after they drove a Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow's main airport terminal Saturday and set it ablaze.

"These are not the type of people who always carry identity documents, or who use their real identities," the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the inquiries. "Very little has been gleaned so far from the biological data."

He said police and MI5, the internal security agency, did not know if the suspects were British born, from overseas, or some combination of the two, despite local media reports that they were not from Britain. Officials released few other details of the investigation.

Two men rammed the jeep into the airport entrance, shattering the glass doors and igniting a raging fire. One of the suspects, his body in flames after the attack, was taken to the nearby Royal Alexandra Hospital, where police on Sunday carried out a controlled explosion on a vehicle they said also could be linked to the plot.

On Friday, authorities thwarted coordinated bomb attacks in central London after an ambulance crew outside a nightclub spotted smoke coming from a Mercedes that turned out to be rigged with gasoline, gas canisters and nails. A second Mercedes filled with explosives was found hours later in an impound lot, where it was towed for parking illegally.

"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," Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's counterterrorist unit, said in Scotland.

"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."

Britain raised its terror alert to "critical" — the highest possible level — and the U.S. homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said Sunday that air marshals would be added to overseas flights.

"Al Qaeda has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the U.K.," said Lord Stevens, Brown's terrorism adviser, referring to the 2002 and 2005 attacks on the Indonesian resort island that killed more than 200 people and the daily car bombings in the Iraqi capital.

Glasgow Airport Attack

(AP/Alistair Robertson/PA)

A Jeep Cherokee trailing a cascade of flames rammed into Scotland's largest airport on Saturday, shattering glass doors and stopping within yards of where holidaymakers were lined up at check-in counters. The two people inside the car were arrested — one of them on fire.

Police arrested two people – a 26-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman – on a major highway in Cheshire in a joint swoop by officers from London and Birmingham.

A fifth suspect, a 26-year-old man, was arrested in Liverpool, and two homes were being searched there, police said.

Officers also searched a residential area about a mile from Glasgow's airport and, at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, carried out a controlled explosion on the suspicious vehicle.

"It is believed that this car is connected to yesterday's incident at Glasgow International Airport," Strathclyde Police said in a statement. Police said no explosives were found, but gave no other details.

On the street where the house was searched, police had set up a tent and trailer to work out of, and officers carried crates of evidence out of the building into the night.

CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar reports that neighbors said a house being searched was rented a month ago to two Asian men.

In Saturday's attack, the green Jeep barreled toward Glasgow's main airport terminal at full speed shortly after 3 p.m., hitting security barriers before crashing into the glass doors and exploding, witnesses said.

Police wrestled the driver and a passenger, both described by witnesses as South Asian, to the ground, arresting them and taking one to the hospital. Witnesses said one of the men was engulfed in flames and spoke "gibberish" as an official used a fire extinguisher to douse the fire.Read more...

London Car Bomb Investigation

(AP)

The search for evidence in London continues after two potential car bombs were found on Friday.

Two Mercedes loaded with gasoline, gas canisters and nails were found abandoned Friday in what police believe was an attempt to kill scores or even hundreds of people. Detectives said they were keeping an open mind about the perpetrators, but terrorism experts said the signs pointed to an al Qaeda-linked or inspired cell.

CBS News has learned the police have been able to reconstruct the journey of the bomb vehicles through London using closed-circuit TV images.

And using license plate recognition technology, the police now know precisely where and when the bombers brought their cars into central London.

Those video cameras are sophisticated and sensitive at night. Sources say there are good quality images of both drivers. CBS News has learned that the police know the identity of at least one of the suspects.

Intelligence officials were examining a post to an Islamist Web site — published hours before the cars were found, as first reported by CBS News — that suggested Britain would be attacked for awarding a knighthood to the novelist Salman Rushdie and for intervening in Muslim countries. Read more...

U.S. Airport Security Tightened

(AP Photo/Rick Maiman)

The United States is adding air marshals to overseas flights because of concerns about potential terrorism threats originating in Britain and Europe, the homeland security chief said Sunday.

The Bush administration said it was satisfied with its current terrorism alert level following an attack at a Scottish airport and two foiled car bombs in London.

"I think given what we know now, we're comfortable that we're at the right posture," Michael Chertoff said.

"At this moment we don't have a specific credible threat against the United States," he said.

U.S. airports and mass transit systems are tightening security ahead of the Fourth of July holiday and more air marshals will travel on overseas flights.

"Going forward, we will be doing some enhanced air marshal work and similar types of activities with respect to U.K. travel," Chertoff said. Read more...

Muslims Worry About Backlash

(Getty Images)

Name-calling, anxiety, fear and anger rippled through Britain on Sunday after three failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow. Government and religious leaders appealed for calm, but some Muslims braced for a backlash — while some non-Muslims looked for someone to blame.

The attacks sparked scattered incidents of racist abuse on the streets of London, with young white men targeting Muslim taxi drivers and others of South Asian appearance. Glasgow lawmaker Mohammad Sarwar said some Muslims in Scotland had been threatened or targeted with abusive graffiti.

Muslim anger was directed at the terrorists — but also at a society some felt singles Muslims out for scrutiny whenever there is a terrorist attack.

"We are seething with anger about this," said Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain.

"As a community not only are we just as likely to be victims as anyone else, but we are also looked to in order to provide direction and in some respects take responsibility for this," he added.

[extremophil]

Well done, bombers! (Get it? "Well done". Yuk Yuk)

[jasonking4]

The notion that we are fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here has been totally discredited.

The terrorists were international, of middle eastern in origin.

They are NOT BRITISH.

.

[xzavierbrown]

I am sure the liberals are concerned that the terrorist will be mistreated.

[robertkjjj]

Islam is not a religion of peace. Those who say so are as vicious and manipulative as Holocaust-deniers. Islam is the religion of intolerance, hatred, submission, war, and blood. Islam is a religion of death-worshiping scum.

[micma-2009]

Once again it's good police work and intelligence that works against terrorism. Not invading random Muslim countries like Iraq.

[jonesforch]

OK. Mr George Brown now understands why Mr. Blair joined the war in Iraq

[jonesforch]

WoW CBS. Now Tony Blair..can relax..he is going to see what Mr. George Brown will do now that he is in charge...

[jonesforch]

WoW CBS. Now Tony Blair..can relax..he is going to see what Mr. George Brown will do now that he is in charge...

[jonesforch]

well guess Mr Blair was right after all. Mr George Brown now can see why Tony blair agreed to join this war. Prince Willam and Harry...great kids her MOM did a great job.

[jonesforch]

Guess Mr George Brown is down understanding why Mr.Tony Blair agreed with the war in Iraq...

[jonesforch]

Guess Mr George Brown is down understanding why Mr.Tony Blair agreed with the war in Iraq...

[fascistusa]

This guy sounds just like the Bad Guy in V for Vendetta. You know, The Fascist Dictator. Coincidence? Nah.

Fascism. Not Democracy. Not Freedom.

Fascism.


BUT YOU'RE FREE!!! LAND OF THE FREE!!!!

[SIDNEYWILLIAMSMD]

I cannot believe that all three bomb attempts were related...especially after reading the sceptical remarks of comments posted here just after the first car was discovered. One writer, an apologist for the islamoNazis suggested that other commentators were premature in suggesting this was the work of islamists, going so far as to suggest that it was "other writers" imaginations, and just unfair to pin it on them, or even due to the Americans trying to stir up the Brits....Well, well, well I guess this is another example of the islamic love for free societies, and one more thing to consider before Americans and Brits get fed up with Islam in general and relocate these adherents to an inherently deceptive and violent religion whose adherents universally believe in killing all non-islams.

[sharncedar]

"Al Qaeda has imported the tactics of Baghdad and Bali to the streets of the U.K.," said Lord Stevens, Brown's terrorism adviser.

And Gordon Brown has imported the tactics of Iraq to the UK as well - lies, hyperbole, brutal treatment of citizens, false statements from the government, imprisonment without cause, and presumably various kinds of torture. A government that along with Bush and the other new globalist party admit to lying and waging propaganda war within Iraq is now claiming that Britain is just like Iraq, how interesting, hope that makes you feel secure, I wonder which prison will serve as Abu Graib for British citizens.

That was always my comment to those who laughed at Iraqis - the kind of insolent sinners who could do those kind of things to Iraqis will certainly not feel ashamed at doing them to British or American citizens as well. So here is the begining of that new phase of the war on humanity, the war on civil rights, the war on human diginity, called by the new globalists the` "war on terror". Like they always said, and always planned, the "war" has now come to us, our turn to receive torture, destruction, and chaos. How convenient they caught some bombers who put gasoline in cars, of all things, how sinister and dangerous, imagine gasoline in a car -- time to suspend civil rights and declare martial law.

[gaye5]

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said "We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life," ....
Sorry Mr. Brown, but Britian has already allowed that by letting in a people from this religion whose leader says to slaughter all who will not submit in all the world. It is the order from their god and prophet that when the time is right and they are called that they are to kill. In the mean time they copy what mohammad did, be nice etc until their numbers have grown enough to make a difference and the time is right.. We have been told by muslims that they will kill us when they are called.
Read in the last three quarters of the quran (not the first quarter) and in their holy books what Mohammad did after his numbers became enough to become a force. He also said that it was unfitting for a prophet to take captives until they had made a great slaughter in the land... and this is the man whom they love and follow today..they said that they liked the splitting of heads and the slashing of bodies etc. hmmm
How do we know that the people we have lovingly brought into our counties to save them from the horrors that they lived in, are Muslims who will go against their teachings, their holy books, and what Mohammad/god tells them to do when the time is right....WE DONT...and THEY WONT..

[azhitman2]

The solution. Hunt down and kill the entire families of the scumbags. Spare no one. It should be totally covert but the word will definately get out to future scumbags "You do these terror acts, your whole family dies. From grandpa and grandma all the way down to the cradle."

[robertkjjj]

Islam is not a religion of peace. Those who say so are as vicious and manipulative as Holocaust-deniers. Islam is the religion of intolerance, hatred, submission, war, and blood. Islam is a religion of death-worshiping scum.

[johnshaft4]

This is stupid... Yo, idiots, Osama IS NOT in Iraq. Look inside your pants twerps and grab some tweezers in a feeble attempt to locate your manhood. Has been Blair is just as retarded as Bush.

[johnshaft4]

This is stupid... Yo, idiots, Osama IS NOT in Iraq. Look inside your pants twerps and grab some tweezers in a feeble attempt to locate your man hood. Has been Blair is just as retarded as Bush.

[feelfree1]

Re: "British officials intensified the hunt Sunday for what they called an al Qaeda-linked network behind three attempted terrorist attacks"

They can call it 'Qaeda-linked', or 'Easter Bunny-linked', or whatever else, but in the absense of any supporting evidence for these claims, they mean less than nothing.

As others have noted, these comic book attacks are most likely the work of pro-government agents, attempting to prop up failing leaders, by spreading as much blind fear, hatred, distrust, and distraction as possible.

The coverage of these events only grows more and more suspect, not less, as time goes by.