25 Brit Muslims plotting to bomb Western airliners

LONDON - At least 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners, police here have claimed.

The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen, The Sun quoted them, as saying further.

The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London and are due to return to the UK early in 2010, they added. They will await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike, a Scotland Yard source was quoted, as saying.

The 25 suspects, of Pakistani and Somali descent, were radicalised in UK mosques. Some had been to university and studied engineering or computer sciences. Others were former street gang members, the source further said.

Britain’s Special Branch monitored them as they flew to Yemen, in the Middle East, from British airports in the spring and summer and it was found that in almost every case, their tickets were paid for in cash and bought less than a week before travel.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson have been briefed about this development. (ANI)