A blazing 4x4 jeep blew up atthe entrance of the United Kingdom's Glasgow international airport terminal after two men attempted to drive the vehicle through the buildings doors. The men after failing to crash through the terminal doorway ignited an incendiary bomb, setting the jeep on fire. Both arsonists, with one of them catching fire fled the burning jeep before it finally exploded. The two men were quickly apprehended by a group of police officers, airport officials and passers-by who also extinguished the flames of the burning man.

Fortunately, no one was killed in the incident and the only serious injury occurred to the attacker badly burnt who was taken to hospital remains in a critical condition. The car bombing on 30 July comes only a week before the second anniversary of the 7/7 suicide bombings in London that killed 52 commuters.

Glasgow's international airport was evacuated and flights cancelled, causing mass disruption, especially as the attack coincided with the first day of school holidays in Scotland. Airport officials estimated that around 35,000 commuters would use the airport that day. Five people in connection with the attacks were arrested within the first 24 hours including two arrests on a motorway. These suspects, along with another arrested in Liverpool, have been taken to London to be questioned by specialized anti-terror police.

The police and government claim links between the Glasgow attack and the two car bombs found in London earlier in the week. One of the vehicles had been parked outside a nightclub presumably to be detonated when the club was at its busiest. Security and workers in Britain's nightclubs, public events and airports were all briefed about the high security alert. Police across the UK are out in force stopping and searching in the streets in an effort to prevent more attacks.

After the attacks a COBRA emergency meeting of senior government, security services, and police members placed Britain's national terrorist alert at its highest level. The British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith praised police efforts and urged the public to remain 'vigilant.'

The day after, in an interview with Gordon Brown, only four days into the job after taking over from Tony Blair, the Prime Minister stated in Churhillian defiance; "Terrorists will not be allowed to undermine our British way of life." He claimed the country will face the threat "in a number of different ways; militarily, by security, police, intelligence" and "also fight it as a battle of hearts and minds." His main message indicted his belief that the "threat is long term and a sustained attack on values we [Britain] represent.' He explained that it was important to identify between 'moderates' and the 'violent extremists' in confronting the terror attacks. The Prime Minister admitted that the recent incidents were connected to the current global 'war on terror.' But he refused to indicate whether the attacks were related to the deployment of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as some have argued.

Media reports - before police have released official information on the five detained suspects - blaming 'Islamist terror cells,' along-side eyewitness reports that the two airport attackers were of 'Asian' appearance has created great anguish inside Britain's Muslim and Asian communities. The attacks in Glasgow could have serious consequences for Scotland's Muslim community who will inevitably bear the burnt of any racial or religious backlash, especially if the attackers turn out to claim to be acting in the name of Islam. Omar Hussain from Glasgow says, "It's pathetic. People know fine well in religion you're not allowed to take lives. These people who have been arrested, most likely wont be religious, just idiots.'

In the coming days and weeks as the details of the terror plot unravel they will raise many questions across Britain and the World. What effect will these terror actions have on the British economy, society and the balance between effective security and civil liberties? Are the perpetrators and others involved in these terror campaigns growing military stronger or are they subsiding and fizzling out. With the attackers arrest and eventual trial will there be public understanding of what motivated these people into such an attack that may seem as demented acts of madness with no real logical goal other than nihilist destruction? Are the attacks independent or part of the global Al Qaeda ideological franchise and related to the wider terrorist global war? Britain has again had a taste of life in what goes on everyday in the security chaos of post-Saddam Iraq. Fortunately this time no deaths occurred due to a bit of luck and security precautions, in a week in which more people in Britain were killed due to floods than bombs.