Glasgow, Scotland – A Jeep Cherokee trailing a cascade of flames rammed into Glasgow Airport on Saturday, shattering glass doors just yards from passengers at the check-in counters. Police said they believed the attack was linked to two car bombs found in London the day before.
Britain raised its terror alert to “critical” – the highest possible level – and the Bush administration announced plans to increase security at U.S. airports and on mass transit.
In a recorded telephone message left Saturday for the media, Denver International Airport spokesman Chuck Cannon said: “We won’t discuss security measures we may or not be taking.”
Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said there was “no change in airport security status at this time.”
One of the men in the Jeep was in critical condition at a hospital with severe burns, while the other was in custody, said Scottish Police Chief Constable Willie Rae. Five bystanders in Glasgow were wounded, although none seriously, police said.
Rae said a “suspect device” was found on the man at the hospital and was being investigated. He would not say whether the device was a suicide belt, but British security officials said evidence pointed toward a suicide mission.
Police later arrested two more suspects in the London and Glasgow plots in northern England, Scotland Yard said early today.
Police foiled a plot Friday after two cars were found in central London packed with explosives – one outside a nightclub near Piccadilly Circus and another parked nearby.
A British government security official said the methods in the airport attack and Friday’s thwarted plots were similar, with all three vehicles carrying flammable liquid. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Police had no intelligence warning of a plan to attack Scotland, but they have monitored suspected terrorists and plots there, he said. It was not clear whether there was an international element to the attacks, the official said.
The new threat presents Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Scot who took office Wednesday, with an enormous challenge and comes at a time of heightened vigilance a week before the anniversary of the July 7 London transit attacks, which killed 52 people.
“I know that the British people will stand together, united, resolute and strong,” Brown said Saturday on TV.
President Bush was being kept informed of the situation, the White House said. “We’re in contact with British authorities on the matter,” said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, in Washington.
The Jeep barreled toward Glasgow’s main airport terminal shortly after 3 p.m. Security posts outside the entrance stopped the driver from entering the bustling terminal, but the nose of the vehicle smashed the glass doors.
About 2,500 people were evacuated from the airport, and all flights were suspended.
At the time of the crash, the airport was bustling with families heading out on vacation on the first day of summer vacation for Glasgow schools.
