LONDON (AP) - British authorities said Thursday they thwarted a terrorist plot to simultaneously blow up several aircraft heading to the United States using explosives smuggled in hand luggage, averting what police described as "mass murder on an unimaginable scale."
Police arrested 21 people, saying they were confident they captured the main suspects in what U.S. officials said was a plot in its final phases that had all the earmarks of an al-Qaida operation. U.S. President George W. Bush called it a "stark reminder" of the continued threat to the United States from extremist Muslims.
