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An armed policeman patrols at Heathrow Airport in London following the introduction of heightened security measures August 10, 2006.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) More Photos

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Police in London said on Thursday they had thwarted a major terrorist plot to blow up aircraft in mid-flight while Home Secretary John Reid called the plot a "major threat to the UK and international partners."

    Six planes were involved and flights were targeted from London, Glasgow and Manchester, police said. >>>    

    Main players in foiled plane bombing plot in custody: British Home Secretary

A picture taken on BBC World channel shows British Home Secretary John Reid speaking in London. Britain said that police have foiled a plot to cause "mass murder on an unimaginable scale" by blowing up planes to the United States, putting the nation on maximum terror alert and snarling air traffic around the world. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- British Home Secretary John Reid said on Thursday that he believed the main players in the foiled plot to blow up airplanes in mid-flight from Britain to the United States "are in custody."

    At a police and government news conference in London, Reid said that 21 suspects had been arrested in London, its suburbs, and in Birmingham under the Terrorism Act. Police are still searching homes in the respective neighborhoods. 

    Blair pays tribute to UK police

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, still on holiday in the Caribbean on Thursday, praised the "enormous of amount of cooperation" between Britain and the United States in thwarting a suspected plot to blow up planes on transatlantic flights.

    In a statement issued after Blair received his latest briefing on the situation, Blair's office said "There has been an enormous amount of cooperation between the U.S. authorities which has been of great value and underlines the threat we face and our determination to counter it."    

    Britain's Heathrow Airport closed to all incoming flights

Planes are seen at Heathrow Airport in London, August 10, 2006.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The London Heathrow Airport is now closed to all incoming flights, after police announced early Thursday morning the foiling of a major terrorist plot to blow up British planes destined for the United States.

    According to Sky TV reports, some 20 flights from London, Glasgow and Manchester had been targeted. The explosives involve certain liquid chemical devices.

    British police arrest 21 over foiled plot to bomb planes

A police dog handler stands guard at Manchester Airport. British police said on Thursday that 21 people had been arrested in connection with a foiled plot to blow up aircraft flying from Britain to the United States. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    LONDON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-one people had been arrested in connection with a foiled plot to blow up aircraft flying from Britain to the United States, British police said on Thursday.

    Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson, from London's Metropolitan police, told a news conference the terror plot against airlines was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale." 

    Pakistani intelligence helps thwart aircraft bomb plot 

     ISLAMABAD, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani intelligence agencies have helped the British authorities foil a terror plot to blow up several passenger planes flying to the United States from Britain, local newspaper and TV channel reported on early Friday.

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