Australian Police Arrest Man Over Uk Car Bombs

An eighth person has been arrested in Australia in relation to the investigation into the attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow.

A 27-year-old doctor who has been working at a hospital on Queensland's Gold Coast was arrested at Brisbane airport last night. He is reported to have been working in the UK last year.

The arrest came as British officials asked authorities in Pakistan and other countries to examine any links to the suspects in the terror plot.

In Glasgow today, controlled explosions were carried out on a car outside a mosque after the vehicle was linked to the attempted attacks on the city's airport and in central London.

Australia's foreign minister, Alexander Downer, said today that it was thought the man was preparing to board an international flight.

The man is the sixth person to be arrested who is a doctor, according to security sources. Police are currently working in the belief that the alleged leader of the terror cell is one of the five doctors held in the UK who were working or training for the NHS, Mohammed Asha, a 26-year-old neurosurgeon who lives in Staffordshire.

Speaking about the Brisbane arrest, Australia's prime minister, John Howard, told reporters that the man "taken into custody is an Indian national who came to Australia sponsored by the Queensland [state] health department".

Mr Howard said a second doctor working in Australia was also being interviewed, though that doctor has not been arrested.

It is understood that this morning's controlled explosions were aimed at allowing the police to safely access a car parked outside the Forth Street mosque in Glasgow. The car was later removed from the scene this morning and will undergo a forensic search. The mosque is in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow's south side.

Superintendent Stewart Daniels, of Strathclyde police, told BBC Radio Scotland: "There's absolutely no specific information to indicate that this vehicle is a threat, however we have been working very closely over the past few days with the bomb squad.

"They are out at present, firstly just to ensure that the vehicle is not a threat, and secondly to secure any forensic evidence that the vehicle may contain. The mosque itself has no link to this incident."

Members of the mosque were at prayer when officers arrived at the scene last night to investigate the car. Officers decided to wait until prayers were finished before investigating the car. Controlled explosions were started at 5am.

Two controlled explosions were carried out on parked cars yesterday at the Royal Alexandra hospital in Paisley, just outside Glasgow, after residential accommodation used by medical staff had been searched. Sources confirmed an Iraqi doctor, Bilal Abdulla, 27, is alleged to have been a passenger in the Jeep that smashed into the terminal at Glasgow airport.

Another man alleged to have been in the Jeep is receiving treatment at Royal Alexandra hospital. He is critically ill with 90% burns. Sources told the Guardian that the injured man - seen dousing himself in petrol during Saturday's attack - is Lebanese.

Seven of the eight people arrested so far are foreign-born nationals, including an Iraqi doctor trained in Baghdad, a Jordanian neurosurgeon, an Indian medic, and the Lebanese man. However, counter terrorism officials said last night they believe British terrorists who are still at large were involved in the car bomb conspiracy.

In other developments today, it emerged that US law enforcement officials received intelligence reports two weeks ago which warned of a possible terror attack in Glasgow against "airport infrastructure or aircraft", according to ABC News.

An unnamed senior official told the US broadcaster that the intelligence led to the assignment of federal air marshals to flights into and out of both Glasgow and Prague in the Czech Republic.

The US Homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, declined to comment on the report, but yesterday told ABC News that "everything that we get is shared virtually instantaneously with our counterparts in Britain, and vice versa".

The intelligence reports also warned that airports and aircraft in the Czech Republic could be the targets of al-Qaida-connected terrorists, ABC News said. Similar warnings last month led to air marshals being deployed on flights into and out of Germany.

Strathclyde police's chief constable, Willie Rae, has said his force had been given no prior warning of Saturday's Glasgow airport attack, in which a burning Jeep tried to crash into the building.

During a press conference after the incident, he said: "There was no prior intelligence to suggest that Scotland was going to be the target of a terror attack."

A spokesman for the Scottish Executive maintained that position yesterday.

Later today, the Muslim Council of Britain is holding a press conference in London about the terrorist incidents in the city and in Glasgow.