Britain on Thursday said it had thwarted a plot to wreak "mass murder" by the simultaneous mid-air bombings of planes to the United States, ordering a maximum security alert that snarled global air traffic.
Police said 24 people had been arrested, most of them in London and surrounding area, over the alleged plot in which terrorists would smuggle aboard explosives in hand baggage and detonate them. At least two media outlets also reported that five individuals suspected of being involved in the plot were still at large and being hunted by police, a report London's Metropolitan Police declined to confirm.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said the suspected perpetrators appeared to be of Pakistani origin. British and US authorities suggested the operation had been on the point of being carried out, while US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said it bore the hallmarks of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
In Green Bay, Wisconsin, US President George W. Bush said the alert showed the United States remained "at war with Islamic fascists" five years after the September 11, 2001 suicide plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson, of London's Metropolitan Police, said the swoop by anti-terror police had disrupted a bid to cause "untold death and destruction" on flights between Britain and the United States.
"We can't stress too highly the severity that this plot represented. Put simply, this was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," he told a news conference.
Home Secretary John Reid said it had been designed to "bring down a number of aircraft through mid-flight explosions." "Whilst the police are confident that the main players have been accounted for, neither they nor the government are in any way complacent," he added.
Chertoff said the plot was "suggestive" of an action by al Qaeda, but added that investigations were continuing, while Robert Mueller, head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said it bore "the earmarks of an al Qaeda plot."
Britain's domestic Press Association quoted senior police sources as saying they believed up to nine planes were to have been blown up in a simultaneous attack. A US intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the plot targeted United, American Airlines and Continental Airlines but possibly non-US carriers as well.
He said the destination of the targeted flights included cities that were "primary tourist attractions," such as New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago.
Chertoff said the plot involved attackers carrying components of the bombs in the form of liquid explosives and detonating devices disguised as drinks, electronic devices or other common objects. British police declined to confirm the use of liquid explosives.
Chertoff said the arrests had "significantly disrupted this major threat," adding that the plot had been in the "final stages" of planning and Washington would not drop its guard, although there was no indication of plotting inside the United States.
London's Heathrow airport, one of the busiest in the world, was badly hit. In total, 302 arrival flights and 309 departures were cancelled at Heathrow as of 4:00 pm (1500 GMT), according to airports operator BAA.
It said later it had been given approval by air traffic control authorities to resume short-haul flights into and out of the capital. There were no restrictions on long-haul flights, although passengers should be prepared for long delays, a spokeswoman said.
British Airways cancelled all remaining short-haul flights on Thursday between Heathrow and other British and European cities, as well as the Libyan capital Tripoli. Passengers on all planes leaving British airports, including domestic and transit flights, were banned from taking any hand luggage on board other than essential items such as money, tickets, keys, medicines and spectacles. Apart from baby milk, which had to be tasted before boarding, all liquids were taken from them.
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