:Britain-Terror Plot
British foil plan to wreak terror and kill thousands over the
Atlantic
Eds: AMs. LEADS throughout with ages of suspects, plan to hide
explosives in sports drink bottles, CLARIFIES that cities were
likely targets.
By JENNIFER QUINN
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) -- British police said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot, possibly just days away, to blow up U.S.-bound jetlinersover the Atlantic and kill thousands. Chilling accounts leaked by investigators described a plan on the scale of 9/11 that would use liquid explosives concealed as sports drink bottles and common electronic devices to bring down as many as 10 planes in a nearly simultaneous strike. The bombs were to be assembled on the aircraft apparently using a peroxide-based solution detonated by such devices as a disposable camera or a music player, two American law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.
A federal law enforcement official in Washington said that at least one martyrdom tape was found during ongoing raids across England on Thursday. Such a tape, as well as the scheme to strike a range of targets at roughly the same time, is an earmark of al-Qaida.
British authorities arrested 24 people based partly on intelligence from Pakistan, where authorities detained up to three others several days earlier. More arrests were expected, the official said. The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry, and the official said some had gone to Pakistan recently.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said the suspects, whose ages ranged from 17 to the mid-30s, were looking to sneak at least some chemicals on the planes in sports drink bottles. Teams of at least two or three men were assigned to each flight, the schedules for which they had researched on the Internet, the official said.
American investigators praised Britain for preventing a catastrophe. "If this plot had actually occurred, the world would have stood still," Mark Mershon, assistant director of the FBI, told the AP in New York.
Terror threat levels were raised to some of their highest levels and hundreds of flights were canceled worldwide. Passengers stood in line for hours and airport trash bins bulged with everything from mouthwash and shaving cream to maple syrup and fine wine.
Governors in at least three U.S. states -- California, New York and
Massachusetts -- ordered National Guard troops to help provide
security.
"We want to make sure that there are no remaining threats out
there, and we also want to take steps to prevent any would-be
copycats who may be inspired to similar conduct," said U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.
Experts said the nature of the plot could herald a new age of terrorism where attackers have access to explosives that are easy to carry and conceal. Emergency security measures quickly implemented on Thursday provided a stark vision of the possible future of air travel.
Mothers tasted baby food in front of airport security guards to prove it contained no liquid explosives. Liquids and gels were banned from flights. Travelers repacked their luggage in airports, stowing all but the most necessary items in the hold.
Although plots to blow up airliners using liquid explosives are not new -- such an attempt was foiled more than a decade ago -- the U.S. government has been slow to upgrade its security equipment at airport checkpoints to detect explosives on passengers.
U.S. authorities did not say how long the security measures would last. "We are taking the step of preventing liquids from getting into the cabin to give us time to make adjustments," Chertoff said.
The raids in Britain on Thursday followed a monthslong investigation, but U.S. intelligence officials said authorities moved quickly after learning the plotters hoped to stage a practice run within two days, with the actual attack expected just days after that.
The test run was designed to see whether the plotters would be able to smuggle the needed materials aboard the planes, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Targeted were United, American and Continental Airlines flights from Britain to major U.S. destinations, which counterterrorism officials said probably included New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the individuals plotted to detonate liquid explosive devices on as many as 10 aircraft.
"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 declared.
The plane bombings could have come just ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks carried out by al-Qaida. The terror group's leader Osama bin Laden and his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed hiding along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and have repeatedly issued tapes threatening new attacks.
"In terms of scale, it was probably designed to be ... a new
Sept. 11," said Jean-Charles Brisard, a French private investigator who works with lawyers of many Sept. 11 victims. "It involved the same tools, the same transportation tools and devices."
The close call also shifted attention once more to Britain's Islamic community just over a year after the London transit attacks. Three Britons of Pakistani descent and a Jamaican convert to Islam carried out those deadly bombings with a peroxide-based explosive that trained operatives can make using ordinary ingredients such as hair bleach.
In Pakistan, an intelligence official said the arrest of an Islamic militant near that border several weeks ago played a role in "unearthing the plot." The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some suspects arrested in Britain were linked to al-Qaida. However, authorities stopped short of accusing al-Qaida directly for the plot.
A senior Pakistani government official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter, said "two or three local people" suspected in the plot were arrested a few days ago in the Pakistani cities of Lahore and Karachi.
French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy said the group "appears to be of Pakistani origin," but did not give a precise source for the information. Britain's Home Office refused comment.
A British police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said the suspects were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if all were British citizens. He said authorities were working with Britain's large South Asian community.
Tariq Azim Khan, the Pakistani minister of state for information, said "these people were born and brought up in the United Kingdom. Some of them may have parents who were immigrants from Pakistan."
Raids were carried out at homes in London, the nearby town of High Wycombe and in Birmingham, in central England. Searches continued throughout the day, and police cordoned off streets in several locations. Police also combed a wooded area in High Wycombe.
Hamza Ghafoor, 20, who lives across the street from one of the homes raided in Walthamstow, northeast of London, said police circled the block in vans Wednesday and that they generally swoop into the neighborhood to question "anyone with a beard."
"Ibrahim didn't do nothing wrong," Ghafoor said, referring to
a suspect. "He played football. He goes to the mosque. He's a nice
guy."
The British government raised its threat assessment to its highest level -- critical -- which warns that a terrorist attack could be imminent. The U.S. government, following suit, raised its threat assessment to red alert, also its highest level, for commercial flights from Britain to the United States.
------
Associated Press Writers Pat Milton and Tom Hays in New York,
Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington and Jay Lindsay in Boston
contributed to this report.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV 08-10-06 2027EDT
=============================================
Asia-Typhoon
Strongest typhoon to strike China in 50 years makes landfall,
killing at least 30
Eds: AMs. UPDATES with detail on increased death toll, RESTORES
earlier material. RECASTS overline.
By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) -- The most powerful typhoon to hit China in five
decades raged across its southeastern coast Thursday, capsizing
ships and destroying homes after 1.5 million people evacuated. At
least 30 people were killed and dozens were injured. At least 28 people were killed in Cangnan County in coastal
Zhejiang province, where Saomai made landfall, the Xinhua News
Agency said Friday. The government earlier reported two deaths in
Fuding, a city in neighboring Fujian province. Xinhua didn't say
how the latest deaths occurred, but said 7,300 homes were
destroyed.
Officials said at least 80 people were injured and 19 reported
missing across the region. The typhoon was also blamed for at least
two deaths in the Philippines earlier.
Torrential rains were forecast in the next three days as the
typhoon churned inland across crowded areas where Tropical Storm
Bilis killed more than 600 people last month.
Saomai, with winds up to 135 mph, made landfall at the town of
Mazhan in coastal Zhejiang province and was moving northwest at 12
mph, Xinhua said, citing weather officials.
Eight Taiwanese sailors were missing after two ships capsized in
a harbor in Fujian, while four Chinese were missing after their
ship struck a reef, the agency reported. Seven others were reported
missing in the Philippines after giant waves and heavy rains
generated by the typhoon battered coastal villages, officials said.
Saomai, dubbed a "super typhoon" by Chinese forecasters due to
its huge size and high wind speeds, was the eighth major storm of
this year's unusually violent typhoon season. Saomai was the most
powerful typhoon to hit China since the founding of the communist
government in 1949, Xinhua said, citing the Zhejiang provincial
weather bureau.
Before the storm's arrival, 990,000 people were evacuated from
flood-prone areas of Zhejiang and 569,000 from the neighboring
coastal province of Fujian, Xinhua said. It said a total of 70,000
ships had returned to port in the two provinces.
The area is about 950 miles south of Beijing, the Chinese
capital, which was not affected by the storm.
In the Philippines, more than 200 houses built on stilts were
destroyed and a child was killed and another was reported missing
as waves up to 10 feet tall ravaged the coast of Bongao, the
capital of southern Tawi-Tawi province, before dawn Wednesday,
provincial Gov. Sadikul Sahali said.
"There is floating debris everywhere," Sahali said.
At least six members of a family also were reported missing
after their house was buried in a landslide on Sarangani island,
part of southern Davao del Sur province, the Office of Civil
Defense said.
Elsewhere, a man was killed as big waves washed away about 200
shanties in seaside villages in Talisay city on central Cebu island
early Wednesday, the civil defense office said.
Saomai, named for the Vietnamese word for the planet Venus,
passed across Japan's Okinawa island group on Wednesday with winds
up to 89 mph, prompting airlines to cancel 141 flights and
affecting 24,000 passengers.
China's weather bureau had forecast unusually heavy typhoon
action this summer, saying warmer than normal Pacific currents and
weather patterns over Tibet would create bigger storms and draw
them farther inland.
Bilis triggered flooding and landslides as far inland as Hunan
province, hundreds of miles from the coast.
Most of the deaths happened in areas away from coastal
communities that have elaborate dike networks and a long history of
evacuating flood-prone areas.
Typhoon Prapiroon lashed China's southern coast last week,
killing at least 80 people in floods and landslides in Guangdong
province and neighboring Guangxi.
Even as Saomai stormed ashore, Chinese forecasters were already
closely watching Tropical Storm Bopha, which trailed behind it
farther out in the Pacific. Bopha was about 110 miles southeast of
Guangdong late Thursday and moving west with winds of 29 mph,
according to the Hong Kong Observatory. (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV 08-10-06 2036EDT
hats off to the spies and such who foiled this plot, security is super tight as I've pointed out above but we may be looking at restricted handluggage for a good few years now.
boobies FTW!
