Andrew C. McCarthy
The investigation of the latest terror plot to target the United Kingdom is very fluid. Right now, the headlines are these: There have been at least three attempted car-bomb attacks, the perpetrators were Islamic radicals, five people are in custody, and the police have searched various places in England and Scotland.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ADVERTISEMENT
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Many questions remain, the most pressing being: Have there been other attempts that have not yet been revealed publicly? Are additional attacks likely? Is this an al Qaeda operation? What has triggered it at this particular time?
To deal first with what we know, there were two attempted bombings in London’s West End in the wee hours of Friday morning and one at the airport in Glasgow late Saturday morning. Investigators deem them related: Aside from the timing and geographical proximity, the method of attack across-the-board involves cars loaded with gas canisters, the cars used in London are reportedly tied to Glasgow (likely, registered there), and there is good reason to believe the terrorists are all Muslims — although, as usual, the British government and press, all on their best P.C. behavior, are careful to refer to the suspects as “Asian” or, when they get really daring, “South Asian.”
So why are we thinking Islamic terror? Well, generally speaking, that is what most terror is, and we know there is a large, angry foreign (or, “South Asian,” if you will) population in the U.K. which sympathizes with jihadists and has threatened renewed attacks. British intelligence has recently indicated that it is monitoring 1,600 known terrorist suspects in 200 identified cells.
More specifically, information has begun to leak out about the five suspects in custody. Two were arrested Saturday in the foiled attack on Glasgow airport. Witnesses say one, engulfed in flames, was yelling, “Allah, Allah,” as he fought police off while his comrade unsuccessfully labored to torch the fuel-laden SUV they had rammed into the terminal. Both men are now in custody. The burned man is in critical condition, and some reports indicate he was also wearing an explosive suicide belt that had to be removed from him in the hospital.
Further, late Saturday night, on the Glasgow-bound M6 highway in northwest England, police arrested a 26-year-old Iranian-Kurd named Mohammed Asha and the 27-year-old woman who was with him (whose identity has not been disclosed). According to the
New York Times, Asha is a medical doctor who works at North Staffordshire Hospital near Midlands. One of the other detainees — likely, one of the two detained in Scotland — also reportedly works at a hospital, in Glasgow.
Finally, a fifth suspect has been apprehended in Liverpool amid intriguing details that suggest the possibility of another attempted bombing. Specifically, authorities reportedly seized a suspicious vehicle Saturday at the John Lennon Airport, which was abruptly closed — though it, like the airport in Glasgow, reopened Sunday.
There are, moreover, strong indications of yet another bombing attempt. The
Times report this morning refers in passing to “a controlled explosion on a car in the parking lot of a hospital near Glasgow,” which police carried out Sunday. Investigators declined to give details other than that the vehicle was somehow related to the plot.