Terror at the Airport
By ANUJI VARMA
HEAVILY armed police were on patrol at Birmingham International Airport last night following a terrorist car bomb attack in Scotland.
West Midlands officers were drafted in to guard the front of the terminal building minutes after a blazing Jeep Cherokee was driven into glass windows of Glasgow Airport.
The flaming vehicle, containing two Asian-looking men, struck the building at 3.15pm yesterday.
Witnesses told how one man leapt from the vehicle in flames and attacked a policeman before being restrained.
Police arrested two men and were conducting a search of all cars parked at the airport last night.
The attack comes just a day after two failed car bombs in London – and has convinced terrorism expert Dr George Kassimeris that Birmingham could also be on a terrorist hit-list.
“If this is a terror attack, then Birmingham could be the next in line,” the Wolverhamp-ton University lecturer said.
“I think the decision to heighten security at Birmingham Airport is the right one.
“If terrorists want to turn the UK into the next Baghdad, they can do that very easily with bombs in cars.”
Inspector Phil Wright, of West Midlands Police, said his force had reacted to any possible threat to the city airport, where the passenger ‘drop off zone was immediately closed.
“We responded by dispatching more officers to the site and closing off the front of the terminal building. Some of those are armed,” he said.
“They are guarding the front of the building and Trident Road, where they are redirecting visitors to alternative routes so there is no disruption to the flights.
“There are also more officers patrolling the area as apreventive measure. This procedure will stay in place permanently over the weekend.
“We do not know when we will relax security.”
A Birmingham Airport spokeswoman added: “At the moment, it still isn’t clear what the situation is in Glasgow. However, we have decided to operate security at a higher level as a precautionary measure.
“All flights continue as normal.”
Eye-witnesses spoke of their horror at the Scottish attack, which came only hours after two car bombs failed to go off in central London.
Fiona Tracey, who had been picking up her daughter at the Glasgow airport, added: “I was standing next to departures and heard a great big massive bang, and then all the folk from departures were running through arrivals.
“There were people injured, because I saw them lying on the road.”
Taxi driver Ian Crosby said he saw the Jeep explode.
“There was smoke coming from inside of the back seats,” he said.
“Immediately I realised this was a terrorist attack.”
“Somebody had planned this. This was no accident.
“It looks to me like these people were intent on doing some serious damage.”
Robin Patterson, 42, of Rochester, Kent, described the moment he saw the Jeep burst into flames at the airport terminal.
“It was just a small fire at first. Then there was an enormous explosion and it really was a big explosion,” he said.
“The guy next to the car, his skin and clothes just fell off him.
“He came running away from the car and he was like an absolute lunatic. He was just literally running away from the police.”
Mr Patterson said he ran to the gantry, which is between the terminal and the car park, and saw the suspect fighting with police.
“The whole car went up in flames and then there were a couple more explosions,” he said.
“There were three policemen grappling with him. Normally in that situation there would be armed police – but there were none.”
Passengers were cleared from Glasgow’s terminal building and all flights were cancelled.
At a press conference yesterday Chief Constable Willie Rae of Strathclyde Police revealed that the Paisley hospital, where one of the men involved in yesterday’s attack was being treated, was evacuated after a suspect device was found on him.
And he said that anti-terrorism detectives have linked the Scottish attack to the two London car bombs.
On Friday, a silver Mercedes was found stashed with eight gas cylinders, 90 litres of petrol and nails outside Haymarket’s Tiger Tiger nightspot.
Police said the car was “clearly linked” to a second Mercedes which was discovered nearby in Cockspur Street before being unwittingly towed away by parking wardens to an underground car park off Park Lane.
Detectives had spent yesterday scouring the two vehicles for forensic evidence and examining hundreds of hours of CCTV footage for hints about the identities of the bombers.
Following a meeting of the emergency Cobra committed, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the British people to be “vigilant” and support the police and security services in their counter-terror measures.
Mr Brown, who chaired two meetings of the emergency contingencies committee yesterday, said it was right to raise the alert to its highest level of “critical”.
He added: “The first duty of the Government is the security and safety of all the British people, so it is right to raise the level of security at airports and in crowded places in the light of the heightened threat.
“I want all British people to be vigilant and I want them to support the police and all the authorities in the difficult decisions that they have to make.
“I know that the British people will stand together, united, resolute and strong.”
Meanwhile, Wimbledon organisers have increased security in light of the attacks.
Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper said: “We are a high-profile event and the championships take security very seriously.
“This year in particular everything has been tightened up for people out there.
“All around the ground the security has been intensified.”
anujivarma@mrn.co.uk
(c) 2007 Sunday Mercury; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.