LONDON, JULY 2, 2007 - A mere 36 hours after the London Mercedes bombs were discovered, security services' worst fears came to life as terrorists struck again in the United Kingdom. While the attempt to drive a jeep into Glasgow International Airport was hampered by an incompetence that is increasingly becoming the hallmark of the terrorist group that’s behind the failed explosions, the arrival of Baghdad-style Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Devises (VBIEDs) - both suicide and remote detonated - to Britain's shores opens a new door in the war on terror here.

In what new Home Secretary Jacqui Smith described to Parliament as "afast-moving investigation," British police arrested at leasteight individuals and conducted searches at 19 locations. Details are quickly emerging, but at this point it appears two individuals have been named in the conspiracy: A 26-year old Jordanian-educated, Dr Mohammed Asha, and 27-year old Iraqi, Dr BilalAbdullah.

Asha was arrested with his wife when their car was forced off a motorway by security services late Saturday night. This was only hours after Abdullah and an unidentified companion had attempted to ram a Cherokee Jeep into the departure lounge at the Glasgow airport.

The Jeep, which was packed with fuel and gas cylinders, failed to detonate. Abdullah was seized as he attempted to flee the scene (some reports sayhe was brandishing a Molotov cocktail). His partner apparently set himselfon fire and was described by some witnesses as "engulfed in flame" crying"Allah, Allah." Airport workers were able to douse the flames andthe man is in intensive care under heavy guard.

Early Sunday morning, security services in Liverpool arrested a fifth man near Liverpool's main Lime Street train station. Beyond the identity of the two doctors, there are conflicting reports about the nationalities of the other members of the plot. However, the BBC has reported that none of the first five individuals arrested are Britishnationals, specifying that they are all in fact of Middle Eastern origin.

Finally, late Monday, it emerged that police had arrested two more individuals in Paisley at the staff residences for the Royal Alexandra Hospital - near Glasgow airport and where their presumed accomplice was being treated for severe burns. At press time only their ages were known: 28 and 25. The BBC and CNN have since reported that police are reporting that they are holding a further eighth man, though they will only confirm he was "arrested abroad."

Strathclyde police have been "keen to stress" none of these men are of Scottish origin. This is a crucial factor in the government's response, asthe reflexive assumption in these cases is to presume that the culprits are all drawn from the community of second generation, predominantly South Asian, Muslim immigrants living in the United Kingdom. Many early reports by witnesses described the two airport attackers as being "Asian" individuals (in the United Kingdom, this is usually meant to refer to South Asian individuals), and neighbors of the raided property apparently owned by the two airport attackers described them as being of "Asian" descent.

This unfortunate confusion reflects a growing problem for the British government's response to the terrorist threat. New Prime Minister Gordon Brown has declared the battle is one that must be fought "in a number of different ways - militarily, by security, by police, by intelligence," but also "a battle of hearts and minds." The "hearts and minds" he is broadly assumed to be referring to is that of the British Muslim communities who often find themselves immediately under suspicion in these cases, especiallyafter a number of plots have seemed to draw their numbers from the pool ofyoung second, or third, generation Muslims living in the United Kingdom.

There were already some reports of a racist backlash, with Scotland's only Muslim MP, Mohammed Sawar, reporting that he had "received calls from people who had been threatened or targeted by abusive graffiti," according to the BBC. Recognizing the potential for community clashes, police reached out in Scotland, reassuring a gathering a Glasgow's central Mosque that "these are not your young people."

Early indications appear to be indicate all those arrested thus far are involved in medicine, with various reports indicating that they may all be employees at various hospitals. CNN has reported that this is a connection that Scotland Yard is currently pursuing, and neighbors at the raided house of the airport attackers were quoted assaying that they were sighted in the past with stethoscopes around their necks and "wearing blue surgical scrubs."

If these reports are to be believed, then it would seem that the terror group might be a team who entered the country under a special scheme to allow foreign doctors to come and help fill vacancies in the Britain's overburdened National Health System (NHS). This poses security planners with a new source of menace, and security officials are reportedly seeking to ascertain whether the plotters have previously appeared on their radars, orare what is described as "cleanskins."

A report by ABC, apparently from US officials, was that an individual whose image was picked up by surveillance cameras near the Tiger Tiger club in centralLondon that was targeted by the first two Mercedes car bombs, bore a resemblance to a suspect arrested previously in connection with Al Qaeda's so-called "General" in the United Kingdom, Dhiren Barot. The individual was apparently released for lack of evidence.

The connection to Barot is important, as he had posited in the past the idea to Al Qaeda's leadership of using limousines packed with gas canisters as explosive devises. Described as the "most developed" of his plots by prosecutors, the "gas limos project" planned "to blow up three limousines 'packed' with gas cylinders and explosives next to or under target buildings in the UK." HSToday.us has been unable to independently confirm thisconnection, though experts interviewed did not rule out this possibility.

Alarmingly, according to experts HSToday.us spoke to, the entire attack came as something of a surprise to security services. While there was a sense that the UK was about "due another attack," this plot appears to have materialized out of no-where.

Fortunately, it would seem that the plotters were not very proficient at their trade, leaving behind a "wealth of information" for police in the two cars that failed to detonate in London.

"Examination of the vehicles involved in these attacks [was] proving to be extremely valuable," reported Peter Clarke, Scotland Yard's counterterrorism head, and it appears the mobile telephones that were being deployed as detonators in the car bombs are linked to the failed attack in Scotland. Reports vary, but apparently the terrorists attempted to call the mobile telephone detonators in London numerous times.

Daniel Gardiner, an employee at a letting agency that owned the property where the two would-be airport attackers lived, was quoted by Reuters as saying that he had been contacted by police 15 minutes before the airport attack by police saying that a mobile phone connected to the London attempt had called the letting agency in the past.

Experts told HSToday.us they agreed with the suggestion that the airport attackers may have been spurred to action fearing the net was closing in upon them. It is not yet clearwhether their original intention was to attack Glasgow airport in what seems a rather haphazard way.

This detail is important, as it opens up the question of whether this double-hit (London-Glasgow) was a coordinated attack (reflecting Al Qaeda's preference), or whether it was the opening salvo of addition attacks in the coming week that will mark the second anniversary of the London transport bombings on July 7th. While experts HSToday.us spoke to were sceptical of jihadist attitudes towards memorable dates, few were willing to rule out the possibility of future attacks in the coming days.

Reflecting this fear, Britain remains at a "Critical" threat level, meaning that an "attack is expected imminently." While the security services have not spoken of specific intelligence, it is hard to ignore that it was only much later discovered that the plotters of the 7/7 attack and subsequent 21/7 attempt in London attended training camps in Pakistan at the same time, providing a link and thus evidence of coordination between the two plots. The two groups remained completely discrete while in the UK.

This is, however, only speculation thus far, and the weight of evidence would appear to point to a plot emanating from Al Qaeda in Iraq rather than Pakistan. Still, this reflects another fear that has long haunted British security planners, and that is that the brutal tactics deployed day-to-day in Iraq have finally come to haunt Britain's streets. While theHome Secretary has vowed that the UK would not be "intimidated by those who wish to destroy our way of life and our freedoms."

The words of Mohammed Siddique Khan, leader of the 7/7 plot, in his martyrdom video resonate: "We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation."