British police thwart aircraft bomb plot

LONDON - British authorities said Thursday they had thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft in flight to the U.S. using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what police described as "mass murder on an unimaginable scale."

Officials raised security to its highest level in Britain — suggesting a terrorist attack might be imminent — and banned hand-carried luggage on all trans-Atlantic flights. Huge crowds formed at security barriers at London's Heathrow airport as officials searching for explosives barred nearly every form of liquid outside of baby formula.

Police arrested 21 people in London, its suburbs and in Birmingham as part of a major covert counterterrorism operation that had lasted several months, Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said. Searches continued in a number of locations.

The suspects were "homegrown," though it was not immediately clear if they were all British citizens, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. Police were working closely with the South Asian community, the official said.

"This was a simultaneous attack on multiple targets, targeting U.S, bound aircraft," the official said.

Air France cancels Heathrow flights until midday
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehy ... ews&rpc=44

Spain's Iberia cancels flights from Spain to London
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehy ... ews&rpc=44

Airlines ban hand luggage from UK after bomb threat
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehy ... ews&rpc=44