Man U Suicide Bomb Plot

The Sun ^ | 20April2004 | PHILIP CARDY

[RepublicansForDean]

By PHILIP CARDY and ANDY RUSSELL

A SUICIDE bomb plot to kill thousands of soccer fans at Saturday’s Manchester United-Liverpool match was dramatically foiled yesterday.

Armed cops seized ten terror suspects in dawn raids.

Intelligence chiefs believe al-Qaeda fanatics planned to blow themselves up amid 67,000 unsuspecting supporters. A source said: “The target was Old Trafford.”

The Islamic fanatics planned to sit all around the ground to cause maximum carnage.

They had already bought the tickets for various positions in the stadium, cops revealed last night.

But armed cops foiled the horrific plot - which could have killed thousands watching Manchester United’s home game against Liverpool on Saturday - in a series of dawn raids yesterday.

Ten people were arrested after a massive surveillance operation involving British anti-terror units and American authorities.

A police source said: “The plot involved several individual bombers in separate parts of the stadium.

“If successful, any such attack would have caused absolute carnage. Thousands of people could have been killed.”

The planned attack would have had an instant global impact as the game is being televised worldwide.

More than 400 police swooped yesterday after a “major terrorist figure” under surveillance moved to Manchester. Police and intelligence organisations believe he came to direct the massacre, which would have been the first al-Qaeda-style outrage in Britain.

Evidence ... forensic expert removes items from the building yesterday Nine men and one woman were arrested — all Iraqi Kurds or from North Africa.

Special Branch and the security services had been monitoring their movements and eavesdropping on mobile phone calls for months.

The operation also involved the US National Security Agency and GCHQ, the Government’s intelligence listening post.

Seven of the suspects were held in Manchester and one each in South Yorkshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

It is believed all have links to extremist Islamic organisations. They were being quizzed at separate police stations around North West England last night.

But it was unclear whether any explosives or weapons had been recovered.

Bombers planning the Old Trafford massacre would have run the risk of being searched going into the ground before the 3pm kick-off.

Manchester United said away fans and those sitting in the higher tiers were frisked.

The identities and details of the suspects remained top secret last night — even to many of those involved in the operation.

One of the raids was at a flat above Dolphins takeaway in Upper Brook Street, near Manchester University. The area has a large ethnic community with many properties converted into bedsits.

Irfaan Arif, who lives in a nearby flat, said: “I was woken at 4am, looked out of the window and saw a lot of armed police. There was loads of banging and shouting.”

The three-storey Dolphins building was cordoned off along with next-door properties housing AK Computers and Funky Fones.

Forensic experts in protective clothing moved in after the initial search teams.

A police spokesman confirmed: “A number of search warrants were executed under the Terrorism Act 2000. Ten people have been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism.

“We appreciate the public interest in this but are unable to provide more specific details at this stage.”

Greater Manchester’s Assistant Chief Constable Dave Whatton said: “It was an anti-terrorism operation that has been going on for some time and it will continue in the future.

“This is the first action that the public have become aware of as it is overt. It is set against the background of an increased threat level across the country.

“The addresses raided will continue to be searched for some time. It is a complex inquiry.”

And he appealed: “Because of the national heightened threat levels we would still ask people to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to police.”

Sheikh Mohammed bal Qadri, deputy director of a mosque in Upper Brook Street, said he did not believe any of his members were among those being held.

He added: “Since September 11 we have been very vigilant, as mosques should be.

“If I see a person who is new, I ask him why he is here and what he is doing and ask these kind of questions.

“We are against these evil acts. In the religion of Islam we have tolerance.” The raids follow revelations last week that police in Manchester had raised their terror alert level.

More than 50 officers were moved from regular duties to work on a task force committed to combating terrorism.

Police have also conducted detailed surveys of land around Manchester Airport to identify sites which could be used to launch missiles attacks on aircraft.

Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd said yesterday: “Clearly this is one of the most difficult levels of policing. But when police get the information to act successfully the whole of the British public will applaud their actions.”

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Irfann Arif, come on down !

[RepublicansForDean]

"Nine men and one woman were arrested — all Iraqi Kurds or from North Africa."

Is this significant to anyone else?

[Steve_Seattle]

"Is this [Iraqi Kurds, North Africans] significant to anyone else?"

Perhaps you can explain the significance. The significance to me is that there seems to be no end to these vermin.

[Investment Biker]

Time to give them special treatment at the Tower of London, for the good old public execution.

[ANDY72632]

The terrorists knew that they would be searched and may have installed or recruited a terrorist employee. I hope that the U.K. authorities thoroughly searched the stadium for suicide belts. They might be delivered in a supply order for the concession stands.

[chiller]

Confirming, imho, the reason for the Muslim population explosion. Simply put, they need warrior ants who will sacrifice themselves. Radical Islamists seem intent on ruling the planet via terrorism.

[Former Fetus]

A SUICIDE bomb plot to kill thousands of soccer fans at Saturday’s Manchester United-Liverpool match was dramatically foiled yesterday

Wow! I knew that european soccer fans were violent, but this beats all!
/sarcasm

[Twinkie]

These people don't seem able to ask themselves the simple
question, "After we kill everyone else, what then . . . ?"
They seem intent on killing everyone else, including each
other, until there's only one man left standing.

[RepublicansForDean]

"Perhaps you can explain the significance. The significance to me is that there seems to be no end to these vermin."

This interests me because of the all-out media blitz we're currently enduring, the sole purpose of which is to convince the American people that there is no Al Qaida - Iraq connection.

It never ceases to amaze me how the liberal media can ignore stories like this.

[Steve_Seattle]

Yes, you'd have to assume the terrorists knew of security procedures, so either they had confederates employed by the stadium who would let them in, or they figured they could conceal the bombs somehow, or they'd blow themselves up in the queue at the stadium entrance just before they'd be detected.

[JohnGalt]

It's likely this is another scare story from a Murdoch porn rag The Sun, designed to scare soccer moms, the same outlet that pushed all the bogus WMD nonsense prior to the invasion.

Manchester United 'not a bomb target'

[RepublicansForDean]

Obviously a matter of opinion.

"But club spokesman Phil Townsend said yesterday: "Old Trafford has not been identified as a target by police." "

This man has financial interests in the public's belief that the stadium is not a target. Of course this would be his response.

[Steve_Seattle]

There have been several major attacks thwarted in the past few weeks, in countries that both are and aren't part of the Iraq coalition, and these stories aren't getting much press. But to the extent these plots are even noticed, they will all be blamed on Bush, e.g., "if we only hadn't gotten them mad" etc. The Islamic world is full of unemployed nobodies who think the only way they can make a mark in life is through death and violence, by emulating the violent precedent of their hero Mohammed. And these killers are soooo sensitive about alleged insults and humiliations and violations of their "sacred" places; their so-called great religion hasn't even given them the tools for self-criticism, for basic truth-telling, for accepting responsibility for one's actions, for forgiveness of the past (they are still mad about the goddamned Crusades, etc.), or for the rudiments of self-awareness.

[Steve_Seattle]

"the same outlet that pushed all the bogus WMD nonsense prior to the invasion."

"Nonsense" which was also spread by every major intelligence agency in the world, inclding Hans Blix, who even today admits that large stores of previously declared WMD's remain unaccounted for.

[Steve_Seattle]

"designed to scare soccer moms"

I don't think there are "soccer moms" in Britain, only soccer hooligans, soccer thugs, and soccer louts.

[JohnGalt]

True enough, but trusting unnamed sources quoted in the Sun is laughable. Who turns past page 3 in that rag anyway?

[JohnGalt]

OOOOO I am so scared. </ sarcasm>

[RepublicansForDean]

"True enough, but trusting unnamed sources quoted in the Sun is laughable. Who turns past page 3 in that rag anyway?"

Please tell me what you really think of the Sun.

I'm not saying that the Sun is gospel, obviously it's not, but it makes for interesting reading. How many "unnamed sources close to the Bush Administration" has CNN quoted over W's term? And CNN has a known agenda, as does ABC, CBS, etc....

Calling the Sun a rag may make you feel good, but it's only one in a very large pile of rags, many of which are incorrectly treated as trustworthy.

If the validity of every news item posted on FR were subject to fact verification before posting, this would be an awfully quiet forum.

[JohnGalt]

You are calling a newspaper that features topless women on a daily basis interesting reading?

Yeah, I am sure people read it for the articles. LOL