WORLD / Europe
UK house used as bomb factory
(AP)
Updated: 2007-07-06 01:02
Police searched for evidence Thursday in a Scottish house that may have
been used to produce the makeshift bombs that failed to explode in three
attempted terror attacks on London and the Glasgow airport, officials and
news reports said.
A police officer guards Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official
residence at 10 Downing Street, in central London, Wednesday July 4,
2007. Authorities across the UK remained on 'Critical' alert following
the car bomb attacks in London and at Glasgow airport in Scotland. [AP]
Community leaders in Scotland appealed for calm after Glasgow police said
there had been dozens of racially motivated incidents since the attack on
the city's airport Saturday.
At least two of the eight suspects caught so far rented a house a few
miles from the airport where two men crashed a gas-laden Jeep Cherokee
into barriers outside a terminal the day after two car bombs failed to
explode in London, several British news outlets reported, citing
unidentified sources.
The two men slept upstairs and used the downstairs as a bomb factory, the
outlets said. Officials would not confirm or deny the reports.
Denis O'Donnell of the local Paisley Cab Company told The Associated
Press that his taxis had picked up suspect Bilal Abdulla, an Iraqi-born
physician, from the house nearly 20 times since May.
Neighbor Susan Hay told the AP that police said they were "stripping" the
home Thursday morning to look for fingerprints and other forensic
materials. A large tent �� set up on Sunday �� was hanging over the
garage.
Two other suspects were arrested at staff housing at the Royal Alexandra
Hospital in Paisley.
With all suspects connected to the medical profession, Prime Minister
Gordon Brown has ordered an investigation of the procedures of recruiting
foreign doctors for the National Health Service, which Health Secretary
Alan Johnson promised would be done "very quickly."
"It is what more we need to do between striking a balance between
ensuring that we have people with the right skills in this country to
make sure the NHS works properly and how we ensure we have a proper
oversight of security," he told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
A British security official said authorities were still investigating
whether there were any suspects at large who may have on the peripheries
of the plot. The official requested anonymity because he was not
authorized to talk to the press.
There have been 38 racist incidents in the Glasgow area since the attack,
police said, including beatings and an attack on a white youth by three
South Asian youths who believed he was involved in a previous racially
motivated attack. A South Asian-owned shop was also set on fire in
Glasgow, police said. There were no serious injuries.
Muslim community leader Bashir Maan appealed for calm and said community
relations remained strong. "We must remember these people were not from
Scotland," he said of the suspects held.
Also Thursday, a subway derailed in the capital during rush-hour, leaving
at least 37 people with minor injuries in an incident transport
authorities believe was caused by an obstruction on the tracks.
Britain's terrorism threat level has been lowered following the capture
of the eight suspects, and a British investigator arrived in Australia to
question a detained Indian doctor.
Australian police acting on information from British counterparts
arrested Muhammad Haneef, 27, on Monday in the eastern city of Brisbane
as he tried to board a flight with a one-way ticket.
Haneef worked in 2005 at a hospital in northern England where another
suspect arrested in connection to the failed attacks also worked.
In a separate case, a man was convicted Thursday in Manchester of
possessing terrorist training materials, including instructions on using
gas canisters to make car bombs.
Prosecutors also said they found material on the computer of Omar
Altimimi, 37, that identified nightclubs and airports as "suitable
targets." He faces sentencing on Friday. However, police have reported no
links between Altimimi, an asylum seeker who came to Britain from the
Netherlands, and the recent foiled attacks.
Also Thursday, a group of al-Qaida inspired computer experts received
prison sentences for running extremist Web sites. Prosecutors said the
group gave advice, including on how to build suicide vests, to would-be
terrorists from Web pages run from their London homes.
In the latest terror plots, six physicians are among the eight suspects,
including the Iraqi Abdulla, one from Jordan, two from India and a man
identified by Royal Alexandra Hospital staff as being from Lebanon. Also
in custody are the Jordanian's wife, a medical assistant, and a doctor
and medical student thought to be from the Middle East, possibly Saudi
Arabia. None has been charged.
Relatives of the Jordanian and his wife have told their families they are
"innocent," relatives said Thursday. Mohammed Jamil Asha, 26, and his
wife, Marwa, 27, telephoned their families in Jordan separately on
Wednesday, relatives said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered his country's help in the
investigations during a talk Wednesday with Brown, said an official who
requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Singh urged Brown to discourage the public from labeling all Indians
abroad as terrorists, the official said.
Brown said there will be increased scrutiny of foreigners recruited for
their skills, including doctors coming to work for the National Health
Service.
"We'll expand the background checks that have been done where there are
highly skilled migrant workers coming into this country," Brown told the
House of Commons in his first appearance at the weekly prime minister's
questions.
Several suspects were on a watch list compiled by the domestic
intelligence agency MI5, the British security official said, indicating
their identities previously had been logged by agents. The official did
not say why they were put on the watch list. The official said Britain's
security services are watching about 1,600 people and have details logged
on hundreds more.
Two of the suspects �� 26-year-old doctor Sabeel Ahmed, whose family in
India said he is related to Haneef, and Khalid Ahmed, 27, believed to be
from Lebanon �� had applied for jobs in Western Australia state, said
Geoff Dobb, state president of the Australian Medical Association.
He told the AP the pair had applied to work in the state health system
since 2005 but were turned down because "they did not meet the standard
required" but that "it had nothing to do with suspicions of any terrorist
associations."
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