Britons on Edge

Saturday's attack at Glasgow Airport, in which two suspects rammed a blazing car into the terminal entrance, are said to be "linked in some ways and, therefore, there are clearly individuals who have the capability and intent to carry out further attacks," according to an unnamed British security official.

The links relate to the way the London car bombs and Glasgow airport attack were planned, using vehicles and gasoline, the official said.

Early Sunday, London police announced the arrest of two people in northwest England "in connection with the events in London and Scotland," reported The Ledger.

Those arrests were in addition to the two occupants of the blazing car at Glasgow Airport.

BAA, the company that runs the airport, said a vehicle "drove into a front door at the check-in area" and "caught fire on impact."

One witness said on BBC television that one of the car's occupants had been ablaze from head to foot, and as he struggled with the police, "was throwing punches and shouting 'Allah, Allah.'"

Another witness said the Jeep had sped up to the building at around 30 miles per hour.

"Then the driver swerved the car around so he could ram straight into the door," the Press Association news agency quoted him as saying. "He must have been trying to smash straight through."

And another witness told the Press Association, "We saw a green Cherokee drive straight into the front door of the airport but it got jammed. They were obviously trying to get it farther inside the airport as the wheels were spinning and smoke was coming from them. One of the men, I think it was the driver, brought out a plastic petrol canister and poured it under the car. He then set light to it.

"At that point a policeman came over, the passenger got out of the car and punched him. At that point I began to run away. But when I looked back several people had run over to try and stop the men."

Chief Constable of the Strathclyde Sir William Rae said one of the two men involved with the act was wearing a "suspicious device" at the hospital where he was being treated and the hospital was evacuated.

He declined to comment on reporters' suggestions that the assailant - said to be in critical condition - had been wearing an explosive belt.

An individual with knowledge of the investigation, however, said that the device was a suicide belt and that the car contained propane canisters.

Although there were questions Saturday about whether the Glasgow vehicle crashed intentionally, by Saturday night, Rae said it was an act of terrorism.

He added that there had been no intelligence warning of an attack in Glasgow. It's been noted that the attack was marked by improvisation.

The airport in Liverpool was also closed on Saturday, reflecting a new concern in an increasingly jittery nation.

Saturday was the first day of school summer vacations, with thousands of people awaiting flights in Glasgow and the sight of the Jeep Cherokee smashing into the building and bursting into flames spread panic and terror in the terminal. Glasgow police spokeswomen Elisa Dunn said five bystanders were injured, according to The Associated Press.

Hours after the attack, hundreds of passengers remained on stranded airplanes on the tarmac; authorities said they could not be allowed into the terminal because of potential further dangers.

The events in London and Scotland warn of Britain's new threat of the use of relatively unsophisticated, homemade explosive devices to spread chaos.

The attacks came as London held weekend of high-profile events, including a concert to honor the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales; a Gay Pride March; and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

It was just two years ago that four suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transit system, and another set of attacks failed two weeks later. These brought home to Britain fears of homegrown terrorist attacks among its disenfranchised South Asian population. Witnesses said the two men in the Glasgow attack were South Asian.

In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement from Secretary Michael Chertoff saying there were no plans to raise the national threat level because there was "no specific, credible information" suggesting any threat to the US.

But the federal government took a number of steps, given the events in Britain and the approaching July 4 holiday, to elevate security. On the airport front, Homeland Security officials said they included additional bomb detection canine teams at airports and behavior-detection squads.

FMI: www.dhs.gov, www.met.police.uk, www.pm.gov.uk