Troops in Heathrow terror alert
By John Steele, Philip Johnston and George Jones and David Millward
(Filed: 12/02/2003)
A suspected Islamist plot to fire a missile at an airliner prompted the largest security operation at Heathrow for a decade yesterday.
Tony Blair personally authorised the use of 450 troops, with armoured vehicles, to back up more than 1,300 police officers
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Al-Qa'eda is believed to have a stock of shoulder-launched surface-to-air (SAM) missiles, some capable of reaching targets at a height of 10,000ft and up to five miles away.
The group has attacked airports in the past and is believed to have been involved in previous attempts to fire on airliners. Two missiles narrowly missed an Israeli airliner with 271 people aboard shortly after it took off at Mombasa in Kenya last November.
The group behind the attack has not been identified, although there are suspicions that al-Qa'eda or associates, who are known to operate in eastern Africa, played a part. The missile was launched from a vehicle more than a mile outside Mombasa airport - well beyond the outer reaches of airport security measures.
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