DAR AL HARB - U.K./AUSTRALIA: AN UPDATE ON THE FAILED BOMBING ATTACKS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

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Muslim Leaders Round On Bombers

The failed terror attacks in London and Glasgow have been condemned by a leading Muslim organisation in the UK.

The Muslim Council of Britain said it regarded any group that seeks to kill innocent people as "the enemies of all of us".

It has urged followers "to provide all the support necessary to prevent such atrocities from taking place".

Meanwhile, two doctors are being interviewed by police in Australia in connection with the attempted bombings.

One, Mohammed Haneef, was arrested at Brisbane airport last night at the request of the British authorities.

Officials have refused to confirm reports the 27-year-old had a one-way ticket to Pakistan.

Haneef lived in Brisbane and had been working at the Gold Coast Hospital in east Queensland as a registrar.

Described in Australia as a "model citizen", he is believed to have qualified as a doctor in India.
Haneef was based in Liverpool before moving to Australia, where he got a job through an advert in the British Medical Journal.

The identity of the second doctor has yet to be revealed.

Six of the eight people now being questioned over the terror attacks are believed to be from the medical profession.

Early today controlled explosions were carried out on a car outside a mosque in Glasgow.

On Friday, two car bombs were discovered and defused in central London.

Then on Saturday afternoon a flaming jeep was driven into a terminal building at Glasgow airport.

Sky News sources named one of the two men in the vehicle as Iraqi Bilal Abdulla.

He was left relatively unscathed but the other occupant was badly burnt.

He is now under armed guard in hospital where he is said to be in a critical condition.

Abdulla reportedly worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital near Glasgow where two cars have been blown up in controlled explosions.

The suspects arrested by Scottish police have now been handed over to the Metropolitan police.
Detectives have until Saturday to quiz three people held at Paddington Green police station in west London.

One of those, Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, was detained with a woman, believed to be his wife, on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday night.

Asha, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, worked at the North Staffordshire Hospital as a junior doctor. He comes from Jordan.

Sky News understands a man held in Liverpool is also a doctor. The two men arrested in the Paisley area of Glasgow are medical students.

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Terrorist Doctors - The New Threat?

Several doctors are being held by police over the failed car bombings in Glasgow and London - and it could mark a terrifying new tactic in terrorism, an expert has told Sky News.

Concerns are so great that authorities have confirmed no doctors will be recruited from Iran, Iraq or Jordan.

Crispin Black, a former intelligence briefer for the Government's emergency planning committee Cobra, believes that terrorist organisations have found a "clever" method of slipping members into the UK.

"They have spotted a loophole in how to get into the UK. We are very rigorous about checking medical qualifications but don't check anything else," he says.

Doctors traditionally have held a position of trust in our society and are not the type of people that many would assume to be involved in terrorist activity.

According to Mr Black, this means they have been able to plan these attacks without causing suspicion.

"They have been living in deep cover which is a very clever system," he says.

An alternative theory is that doctors have been "gently targeted" once working in the UK.

But Mr Black says this is "a high risk strategy" because anyone who refuses to join the terrorists could report them to the authorities.

Bill Durodie is a senior lecturer in risk and security at Cranfield University. He says people wrongly assume terrorists to be poorly educated.

"The stereotype of the terrorist is that they are poor and ill educated. They can come from the complete spectrum of society," he says.

While previous terrorists have been motivated by anti-imperialism, Mr Durodie notes that the latest terrorists attacks have been on consumer targets such as a nightclub and an airport.


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Car Bombing Suspects: Who Are They?

Eight people have now been detained as part of the "fast-moving" inquiry into the car bomb attacks on Glasgow Airport and London. Here is a run down of what is known about the arrested suspects:

First and second arrests @ Glasgow airport, afternoon of Saturday June 30:

:: Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah has been named as one of two men arrested at the scene of the Glasgow airport attack. He had been working at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, near the targeted airport. According to the General Medical Council, Mr Abdulla graduated in Baghdad in 2004 and was working in a supervised NHS role.

:: The other man arrested at the scene was the driver of the Jeep that was rammed into the arrivals hall. He is under armed police guard at the Royal Alexandra Hospital where he is being treated for life-threatening burns which he sustained in the attack.

Third and fourth arrests on M6 in Cheshire, evening of Saturday June 30:

:: Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, was arrested in a dramatic police swoop on the M6 motorway near Sandbach in Cheshire. Dr Asha qualified as a doctor in Jordan and had been working at North Staffordshire Hospital in Stoke-on-Trent. A rented house thought to be home to Dr Asha, his wife and their young child has been searched as part of the inquiry.

:: The 27-year-old wife of Dr Asha is also among those being held at Paddington Green high-security police station. She was arrested at the same time as her husband.


Fifth arrestLiverpool Lime Street, evening of Saturday June 30:

:: A 26-year-old doctor from Bangalore in India who works at Halton Hospital in Cheshire was arrested in the Lime Street area of Liverpool on Saturday evening. A colleague told The Muslim News the doctor may have been detained because he was using the mobile phone and internet account of another man who left the UK for Australia a year ago.

Sixth and seventh arrestsRoyal Alexandra Hospital, morning of Monday July 2:

:: A 25-year-old man was arrested at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

:: A 28-year-old man was also arrested at the Royal Alexandra Hospital residences. Strathclyde Police would not say whether either of the men were doctors.


Eighth arrest Brisbane airport, morning of Tuesday July 3:

:: A 27-year-old registrar from the Gold Coast Hospital, in Queensland, was detained by Australian police when he was due to catch an international flight from Brisbane Airport with a one way ticket. The doctor, who had been based in Liverpool, had started work as a senior house officer at the Gold Coast Hospital on September 4, 2006 after answering an advert in the British Medical Journal in March 2006. He had completed his internship in India.



Pertinent Links:

1) Muslim Leaders Round On Bombers

2) Terrorist Doctors - The New Threat?

3) Car Bombing Suspects: Who Are They?