Investigators are tracing their way through a maze of foreign links to a failed bomb plot in Britain to establish the possible role of al Qaeda's inner circle or its Iraqi arm, security sources said on Thursday.
Police and intelligence agencies were still trying to determine how eight people arrested in a suspected militant plot to bomb London and Scotland had come into contact with each other.
Two are from India, six from the Middle East and all had medical connections, including at least four doctors. None has so far been charged in connection with two unexploded London car bombs and a botched attack on Glasgow airport in Scotland using a fuel-laden jeep, which burst into flames. "All the overseas angles are being followed up," a security source said. "The significance of overseas associations is very high up on our list of questions that we want answers to."