Airliner bombings were "days away"

BRITAIN: Suspected British suicide bombers were just days away from simultaneous attacks on trans-Atlantic airliners when officials said they foiled what one senior police commander called "mass murder on an unimaginable scale".

British police arrested 24 people over a plot to smuggle bombs on to aircraft disguised as drinks, and new tough security measures for air travel remained in place on Friday. Airports were jammed on Thursday and scores of flights were cancelled.

"(The bombers) were a couple of days from a test, and a few days from doing it," said a U.S. intelligence official, declining to be named.

"The plan was to have multiple suicide bombings on aircraft, essentially at the same time," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, adding al Qaeda might have been involved but that it was too early to draw conclusions.

The suspected plot raised the spectre of strikes to rival the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people and came 13 months after four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport network.

U.S. officials said as many as 10 planes might have been struck. Trans-Atlantic jumbo jet flights usually carry more than 300 people, suggesting a death toll in the thousands.

"We are confident we have disrupted a plan by terrorists to cause untold death and destruction," said the London police force's Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson. "Put simply, this was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale."

British Home Secretary (interior minister) John Reid said police were confident all the main figures had been caught but the U.S. TV network ABC quoted unnamed U.S. officials as saying five suspects were still on the loose.

British police gave no details of the people they had arrested, but the U.S. Homeland Security department said all were British citizens. Raids were carried out in the capital London, southeast England and Britain's second city Birmingham.

Last month, al Qaeda called on Muslims to fight those backing Israel's strikes on Lebanon and warned of attacks unless U.S. and British forces pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Pakistan said it played a role in thwarting the suspected plot and had arrested an undisclosed number of people.

British security sources said they had been watching the suspects for eight months.

Police are expected to ask a judge on Friday for permission to hold the suspects for up to 28 days without charge, under new anti-terrorism powers that came into force last month. They must seek permission within 48 hours of the arrests.

Meanwhile US authorities issued their highest-level terrorism alert for the first time Thursday and President George W. Bush said America was "a nation at war".

The plot prompted the US Department of Homeland Security to issue a code-red threat warning covering US-bound planes from Britain, the first time the highest alert has been issued since the system was created following the September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

"The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that 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," Bush said.

The sophistication of the plot to blow up the planes using liquid explosives disguised as beverages or other common products led US officials to link the operation to Al-Qaeda.

"It has the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda plot," said US Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, adding that the operation was in "the final stages of planning" when British police swooped in.

Officials in Britain, the United States and elsewhere immediately imposed stringent new security measures on flights to and within the United States, including banning passengers from carrying any liquids, gels or lotions in carry-on luggage.

Chertoff declined to say which airlines or routes were involved with the plot.

But a US intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity listed United Airlines, American Airlines and Continental Airlines and said destinations of the targeted flights included New York, Washington and Los Angeles, and possibly other major hubs such as Boston and Chicago.

The governors of California and Massachusetts ordered the national guard out to help boost security at airports in Los Angeles and Boston, respectively, and extra measures were also put in place in New York.

London, Washington, Friday, Reuters, AFP