Trump criticizes UK for releasing
suspects in alleged terror plot targeting base used by US
By Nic Robertson, Tim Lister and James
Frater CNN
Fairford, England —
US President Donald Trump criticized the
United Kingdom’s response to a suspected terror plot to attack a UK
airbase used by the US military, saying he was “surprised” the five suspects
were released on bail on Monday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office,
Trump said he wouldn’t have released the suspects, suggesting their actions
“might be” connected to Iran. But Trump refused to elaborate further, saying
only: “I know the answer. I can be very specific, but I’d rather not say it.”
The release of the men does not mean that
the investigation is over, and all five will be subject to stringent conditions
on their movements, British counter-terrorism police said Monday.
Downing Street said it did not have an
immediate response to Trump’s comments, and directed CNN to earlier statements
made by police. Iran denied any involvement in the incident.
The men, who have not been identified, were
arrested early Sunday close to the base at Fairford in western England, from
where US B-1 bombers have been flying missions against Iran.
The five are all British nationals from the
London area, aged between 23 and 25, according to counter-terrorism
police.
Laurence Taylor, a senior counter-terrorism
police officer, said the police were considering the incident from every
possible angle, “including that this may be actively committed by proxies or
individuals either knowingly or unknowingly working on behalf of a foreign
state.”
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a
meeting of COBRA - a committee that handles national emergencies - later
Monday.
Interior minister Shabana Mahmood said
that, as of Monday afternoon local time, “the scene is now safe.” A
police cordon remains around three vehicles found at the scene.
About 85 households, who were evacuated
from the area on Sunday, were told by police on Monday evening that they can
return to their homes.
British police say suspects in alleged
terror plot to be released on bail
1:13
UK authorities have not disclosed where the
men were detained, nor what was found in three white vans they appear to
have used.
Aerial footage on Sunday showed a bomb
disposal robot roaming between the vans in woods near the base. The rear doors
of two of the vans were open and large black items could be seen scattered on the
ground nearby.
CNN teams nearby later heard what sounded
like two controlled detonations from the direction of the village where the
vans were found.
Following the emergency committee meeting,
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said that the investigations remain live,
adding that “those five individuals are under stringent bail conditions.”
Iranian threat
Iran earlier denied any involvement in the
incident. Its embassy in London issued a statement Monday saying it “strongly
condemns the recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some
British individuals and media outlets attempting to link Iran to arrest of five
suspects in the vicinity of RAF Fairford base.”
The Iranian embassy has yet to comment on
Trump’s remarks.
Asked if a hostile foreign state could have
been behind the incident, British Defense Minister Wes Streeting said on
Monday that he did not “want to speculate at this stage of the investigation.”
In July, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps specifically
noted Fairford’s use by US bombers, warning the UK that “any base used for
aggression against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our
forces.”
On Sunday, Trump called the arrests
“fantastic,” saying the US and the UK had the men under investigation for “a
long time.”
A US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber is
pictured on the tarmac at RAF Fairford on Sunday.
Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
“Working with Britain, it was an amazing
job,” Trump told reporters in Chicago. “They were looking to do big damage to
our fort and working with the British worked out great.”
“We had them under view for a long time,
and we got them,” he said.
UK authorities have not commented on that
assertion. It’s unclear whether the five men were under surveillance before
their arrival in the Fairford area in the early hours of Sunday.
“Hooded and masked”
Photographs of the men – shirtless with
their hands tied behind their backs – appeared in UK media Sunday.
They were initially detained under laws on
possession of explosives and were later additionally arrested “on suspicion of
preparation of a terrorist act,” according to a statement by counter-terrorism
police.
A local resident said she came across the
men when returning home on Saturday night.
“Both the driveway and the road were
blocked by three white vans,” she said.
Suspicous vans near RAF base Fairford
Obtained by CNN
The resident, who wishes to remain
anonymous, told CNN that the vans were parked in a “strange formation” about
100 meters from the base fence.
She believed there were “definitely” more
than five men in the group and most had their faces covered. However,
authorities have not indicated they are looking for other individuals and said
Sunday the situation had been contained. CNN is reaching out to police on the
discrepancy.
Some ran into the field and some towards
the neighboring village, the resident said.
A photo geolocated by CNN shows suspects
arrested and on the ground in Fairford on Sunday.
Social Media
She called the emergency services at 1:40
a.m., according to phone records she showed CNN. Within ten or 15 minutes,
armed police arrived.
“I think it was pure luck that I arrived in
the village at a similar time to the vans,” the resident, a farmer, added.
Multiple UK media outlets – including the
BBC, the Guardian and the Telegraph – reported, citing sources, that the
operation was not intelligence-led, suggesting the vigilance of local residents
may have played a key role in alerting authorities.
Counter-terrorism police said they first
received a call “relating to three suspicious vehicles which appeared to be
travelling towards the airbase” about an hour before the resident made her
emergency call.
Streeting said the resident had “a partial
picture” of the situation, adding that the work of the police and the security
services “takes place often unsung, unreported, for good reason,” he said.
Tightened security
Armed police maintain road blocks and security
checks around RAF Fairford on Monday.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Local people told CNN that security around
the base had been tightened in recent days, with roadblocks at the entrance.
But roads and lanes in the immediate area were still open.
The woman who called the police and one
other local resident said that during previous conflicts, such as that against
Iraq in 2003, there had been heavy security around the base.
But security since the Iran conflict began
has been less evident, they said.
In March, the
UK government gave the US Air Force permission to use Fairford to carry out
strikes on Iranian missile sites used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Days after the IRGC issued its threat
against Fairford in July, Iranian media published a video of a group
describing themselves as Iranian patriots at the perimeter fence of the base.
“This is RAF Fairford on British soil — the
place where US military aircraft take off from these very runways to attack our
people and our homeland,” one man says, with an Iranian flag hanging on the
fence.
A US Air Force spokesperson at Fairford –
where the 501st Combat Support Wing is based – told CNN on Sunday: “For
operational security reasons we will not discuss specific force protection
measures.”
CNN’s Molly English and Lauren Kent
contributed to this report.
Comments
Post a Comment