Even hours after the dramatic scenes at Glasgow’s airport, details are still a little sketchy.
A Jeep Cherokee trailing a cascade of flames rammed into Glasgow’s airport on Saturday, shattering glass doors just yards from passengers at the check-in counters. Police said they believed the attack was linked to two car bombs found in London the day before.
Britain raised its terror alert to “critical” — the highest possible level — and the Bush administration announced plans to increase security at airports and on mass transit.
One of the men in the car was in critical condition at a hospital with severe burns, while the other was in police custody, said Scottish Police Chief Constable Willie Rae. Five bystanders in Glasgow were wounded, although none seriously, police said.
Rae said a “suspect device” was found on the man at the hospital and it was taken to a safe location where it was being investigated. He would not say whether the device was a suicide belt, but British security officials said evidence pointed to the attack being a suicide mission. […]
“I can confirm that we believe the incident at Glasgow airport is linked to the events in London yesterday,” Rae said at a news conference. “There are clearly similarities and we can confirm that this is being treated as a terrorist incident.”
That’s not exactly an iron-clad connection between the events, but again, officials are still gathering information. And obviously, with the British terror alert now at “critical,” the highest level possible, an aggressive investigation is underway. The latest reports indicate that two people were arrested in Cheshire, England, in connection with terrorist incidents in England and Scotland, bringing the total number of people in custody to four.
The BBC has put together an excellent Q&A on the information currently available.
