[Scarlett.]

OPERATION: Officers surround student suspect

Thursday April 9,2009
By John Twomey

POLICE last night foiled a suspected plot to launch a massive bomb attack, arresting 10 suspects.

The extremists were believed to be close to carrying out a plan aimed at slaughtering scores of people and causing damage estimated at millions of pounds.

Detectives believe it was planned to detonate a huge conventional device rather than a “dirty” bomb.

The arrests came after an intelligence operation led by the security service MI5 which identified leading Al Qaeda-linked figures at the heart of a terrorist conspiracy.

Raids were carried out at Cheetham Hill in Manchester, Liverpool’s John Moores University and at Clitheroe, Lancashire.

It is understood simultaneous raids were carried out in Pakistan.

Senior sources also revealed the alleged terror cell planned to attack the Birdcage nightclub in Manchester city centre or the Trafford Centre shopping complex.

The nightspot, with its dancing showgirls, has become hugely popular, attracting thousands of clubbers each week. Detectives believe it was chosen as a symbol of “western decadence”.

The Trafford Centre, on the outskirts of Manchester, attracts about 140,000 shoppers every weekend.

Officers also raided three houses in the city’s Cheetham Hill area about 6pm, looking for explosives.

One of the addresses was an internet café that also carries out computer repairs.

Another was a residential address where three men aged 18 to 30 were arrested.

Neighbours said the men moved in about a year ago and regularly attended a nearby mosque.