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Suspected British suicide bombers were just days away from simultaneous attacks on trans-Atlantic airliners when officials said they foiled what one senior police commander called “mass murder on an unimaginable scale”.

British police arrested 24 people over a plot to smuggle bombs on to aircraft disguised as drinks, and new tough security measures for air travel remained in place on Friday. Airports were jammed on Thursday and scores of flights were cancelled.
“(The bombers) were a couple of days from a test, and a few days from doing it,” said a U.S. intelligence official, declining to be named.

“The plan was to have multiple suicide bombings on aircraft, essentially at the same time,” said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, adding al Qaeda might have been involved but that it was too early to draw conclusions.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the plan was a stark reminder his country was at “war with Islamic fascists”.

Pakistan said it played a role in thwarting the suspected plot. Pakistani media said authorities had arrested at least three men. No other details were immediately available. The suspected plot raised the spectre of strikes to rival the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed about 3,000 people and came 13 months after four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people on London’s transport network.

U.S. officials said as many as 10 planes might have been struck. Trans-Atlantic jumbo jet flights usually carry more than 300 people, suggesting a death toll in the thousands.
Via