DAR AL HARB - U.K.: 5 ARRESTED IN CAR BOMB/SUICIDE BOMB ATTACKS ON LONDON & GLASGOW

British police arrest five after car bomb attacks
By Peter Graff

GLASGOW (Reuters) - British police arrested a fifth person on Sunday after a fuel-filled jeep was rammed into Scotland's busiest airport, a terrorist attack that police said was linked to two failed car bombings in London.

Three of the arrests were in northern England and followed the detention of two men, who witnesses described as Asian. They were seized on Saturday immediately after they slammed a Jeep Cherokee into Glasgow airport and set the vehicle ablaze.

The attack, which caused five slight injuries and damaged the airport entrance, came barely 36 hours after two car bombs loaded with fuel, gas canisters and nails were found on the busy streets of central London primed to detonate.

Following the series of threats, Britain raised its national security level to "critical," meaning the risk of another attack was imminent, and increased security at airports.

"We are dealing with a long-term threat. It is not going to go away in the next few weeks or months," Prime Minister Gordon Brown, himself a Scot who took office only last Wednesday, said in a somber appraisal of the terrorist threat facing Britain.

Outside Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city, police in white body suits searched houses in a town a short drive from the airport and set up forensic tents behind one building.

Neighbors said two Asian men had moved into one of the houses a month ago but had kept very much to themselves.

"I don't remember seeing them at all," said Mae Gordon, 67. "They were the only people around here you would never see."

Police said the three arrests in the north of England were related to both the Glasgow and the London attacks, but did not provide further details. Two of the arrests were made overnight on a major highway and the third was made later on Sunday.

Of the two men detained at Glasgow airport, one was badly burnt and listed in critical condition in hospital.

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