Al-Qaeda planned to smash jet into Heathrow (1 of the 10 terror plots? )

[Up2Late]

(So, did anyone see this "...White House issued a list of 10 Al-Qaeda plots foiled by America and its partners..." mentioned in this article?):shrug:

Al-Qaeda planned to smash jet into Heathrow

Press Trust of India (hindustantimes .com)

London, October 9, 2005

Al-Qaeda terrorists planned to hijack a passenger jet from eastern Europe and fly it into a packed terminal at Heathrow airport, a media report said on Sunday. The plot, which was taken so seriously that ministers considered shutting down the airport, reveals the reason why Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered armoured vehicles and hundreds of troops to be sent to Heathrow in 2003, The Sunday Times claimed quoting security sources.

It has now emerged that MI5, the British internal intelligence agency received detailed intelligence in February 2003 about a two-pronged plan to target Britain because of its decision to send troops in support of America's invasion of Iraq. The second element of the operation, inspired by Osama Bin Laden, involved a mortar attack on a departing passenger plane. It was organized by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Al-Qaeda operations chief and mastermind of the September 11 attacks, the sources said.

Details of the plot have been provided by British sources after the White House issued a list of 10 Al-Qaeda plots foiled by America and its partners, including Britain. Referring to what it called "the Heathrow airport plot," the White House said that America and several partners had "disrupted a plot to attack Heathrow airport using hijacked commercial airliners."

At the time cabinet ministers, including David Blunkett, then home secretary, said they could not divulge the nature of the threat but insisted that it was "real". This weekend security sources gave fresh details of what they described as a double plot to kill hundreds of Heathrow passengers and punish Blair for Britain's role in Iraq.

<http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1513948,001301780003.htm>
(more at link above)