Newspapers warned yesterday of the danger of an "enemy within" Britain after police apparently foiled a major terrorist bomb plot by arresting eight British citizens believed to be of Pakistani origin.
The men aged 17 to 32 were held for suspected involvement in planning a terrorist attack after raids on Tuesday, during which 500kg of fertilizer that could be used to make explosives was also seized.
The Financial Times said the arrests intensified fears that Britain faced a threat from extremists who grew up within Muslim communities here.
There are some 1.7 million Muslims in Britain according to government figures, but experts think the true figure could be over 2 million.
The Independent newspaper said that anti-terrorist sources -- which it did not name -- believed they had prevented the first attack on British soil by followers of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda group.
The right-wing Daily Express tabloid said in an editorial that the arrests were a "wake-up call" for British Muslims.
"The enemy within must be rooted out," it said. "The vast majority of peaceful, moderate Muslims here must now summon every ounce of courage to speak out against extremists and speak up when they find them."
The Sun tabloid stressed that most Muslims did not support extremists. But the paper added in an editorial: "The terrorists are an enemy within that must be dealt with -- and dealt with quickly."
The Times daily reported that Britain's leading Muslim organization was writing to every mosque in the country asking imams and other community leaders to be on the lookout for possible terrorists in their midst.
Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, told the paper: "If there is anything we become aware of, it is our duty to ensure that this is reported immediately to the police. We will not tolerate terrorism."
Some of the 24 homes and businesses targeted in Tuesday's coordinated raids were in residential areas near Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports.
"Islamic bomb attack foiled by raids in the heart of suburbia," read the front-page headline of the Daily Telegraph.
From a 24-hour self-service warehouse in west London, police also seized 500kg of ammonium nitrate -- an easy-to-buy fertilizer which can be made into powerful bombs.
Some 700 officers were deployed in the raids, which Peter Clarke, chief of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist branch, said were "part of continuing and extensive enquiries by the police and the security service into alleged international terrorist activity."
Clarke said the raids were not linked to the March 11 blasts in Madrid which ripped through four commuter trains, killing 191 in the worst terrorist atrocity in Europe since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Police and security chiefs have expressed fears that attacks in Britain could have been launched within weeks and used to target high profile sites like Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament or "soft" targets like pubs, nightclubs and shopping centers.
London has been on guard against a potential attack ever since the Madrid bombings, with Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens warning of the "inevitability" of a terrorist strike on the British capital.
Clarke did not confirm news reports that the arrested included "Islamic terrorist suspects," and the Metropolitan Police asked news media not to use that phrase.
But in a statement to reporters, Clarke went out of his way to say: "We know the overwhelming majority of the Muslim community are law-abiding and completely reject all forms of violence."
Relatives of three of the arrested men insisted they had done nothing wrong.
Sajjad Ahmad, the uncle of an 18-year-old detained along with his two cousins aged 22 and 17, told the Daily Mirror: "They are just regular English guys. They are as British as they come. They don't even have beards."
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