Five Pakistanis have been arrested in Pakistan as suspected 'facilitators' of the plot, a government official said, in addition to two Britons arrested there about a week ago.
The Bank of England said it had frozen the accounts of 19 people arrested on Thursday. The men, ranging in age from 17 to 35, were said to be British Muslims, and neighbors said at least two of those arrested were converts to Islam.
Investigators, describing a plot on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, said the attackers planned to use common electronic devices to detonate liquid explosives to bring down as many as 10 planes.
The bombs were to be assembled on the aircraft apparently with peroxide-based solution and everyday carry-on items such as a disposable camera or a music player, two American law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.
A federal law enforcement official in Washington said that at least one martyrdom tape was found during raids across England on Thursday. Such a tape, as well as the scheme to strike a range of targets at roughly the same time, is an earmark of al-Qaida.
Airline passengers faced a second day of disruptions and disappointment as airports struggled to restore flight schedules.
'It is going to be another difficult day today, both for airports and for passengers, but there is cause for optimism that we will get more flights off today,' said Stephen Nelson, chief executive of British Airports Authority, which runs Britain's major airports.
At Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, around 70 percent of flights were running Friday, but many passengers turned around and headed home after an early morning announcement that a raft of flights had been canceled, including British Airways services to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
British authorities arrested 24 people on Thursday based partly on intelligence from Pakistan. More arrests were expected, the official said. The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry.
Agents in Pakistan arrested at least seven people, including two British nationals of Pakistani origin, who provided information on the terror plot, a senior government official said Friday. The arrests were made in the eastern city of Lahore and in Karachi the official said on condition of anonymity because he did not have authority to speak formally on the issue.
Two were Britons arrested about a week ago, he said. The five Pakistanis were arrested on suspicion that they served as local 'facilitators' for the two Britons, the official said. It wasn't clear when they'd been detained.
The Guardian newspaper, citing unidentified British government sources, said that after the arrests a message was sent to Britain telling the plots, 'do your attacks now.' That message was intercepted and decoded earlier this week, The Guardian said.
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