Britain faces Iraqi-style car-bombings

Britain's new prime minister Gordon Brown confronted an immediate test of his leadership this weekend after a succession of failed car bomb attacks underscored a change in tactics by terrorists who authorities say are linked to Al Qaeda.

Five people, including one woman, were under arrest Sunday in connection with an apparent plot to detonate car bombs in London and Glasgow – the first time the car bomb tactic has been "imported" to Britain from Iraq, where it has been employed to grisly effect.

Though the latest, low-tech plots weren't foiled by British police intelligence, the lack of fatalities and amateurish construction of the bombs implies attackers with less training than Iraqi bombmakers.

"It's a different tactic in the UK, but it's not a different tactic for the global terrorist movement," says Bob Ayers, a security expert with London's Chatham House, an international policy think tank. "It's an application of a tactic that has been successful elsewhere."

Britain's terror alert level was raised to "critical" for the first time in almost a year, and security measures were redoubled at airports, crowded public spaces, and even on roads, with cars facing spot police checks. Police were combing houses in Glasgow and Liverpool, as well as closed-circuit television footage for further clues. One man was arrested in Liverpool yesterday; two were detained in northwest England on Saturday night, including one woman; and two men were held in Glasgow, including one in critical condition with severe burns.

No one was killed when two men rammed a fuel-laden jeep into a Glasgow airport building during a busy Saturday afternoon. Two cars were discovered packed with combustible materials and nails in central London on Friday night.

Terrorism experts noted that the failed attacks occurred close to the anniversary of the July 7, 2005 subway and bus bombings that killed 52 commuters, but added that they were more likely conceived as a test for Mr. Brown, who took over as prime minister just five days ago.

Brown responded by giving his first televised interview since taking power, in which he served notice that security was being ratcheted up at airports and in crowded places. But he vowed that Britons would not change their way of life because of the threat from "people who are associated with Al Qaeda."

"We are dealing with a long-term threat. It is not going to go away in the next few weeks or months," he said. "It's very important that people carry on living their lives as normal, to send a message to the terrorists that they will not be allowed to undermine our British way of life."

On Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said there were no plans to change US security levels. "At this moment we don't have a specific credible threat against the United States," he said. But some US airports and mass transit systems are tightening security ahead of the Fourth of July holiday, according to the Associated Press.

British security services are monitoring the activities of as many as 2,000 radicals they suspect are capable of terrorist attacks. They cite as motivating factors: anger over the Iraq war, disenchantment with economic prospects, and an active conveyor belt that sends young Britons – many of Pakistani descent – through indoctrination camps in south Asia before returning them home again.

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