LONDON - Police thwarted an apparent terror attack, discovering a parked silver Mercedes that was packed with (petrol), gas containers and a large number of nails. The attack would have caused "significant injury or loss of life."

"Forensic staff are still examining the device, but once we know more about it, we'll know more about what type of individuals are behind this," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the security details.

The official said Britain's domestic spy agency MI5 also would examine possible connections between Friday's incident and at least two similar foiled plots -- including a planned attack on a West End nightclub in 2004 and a thwarted attempt to use limousines packed with gas canisters to attack targets in London and New York.

GLASGOW (NYT) July 4 -- In some ways, he was the unexceptional product of a privileged upbringing in an educated Baghdad family: an intelligent, pious young man who enjoyed swimming, hiking and socializing at the Iraqi capital's exclusive Hunting Club. But associates of Bilal Abdulla, a doctor who is accused of riding a flaming Jeep into Glasgow's international airport on Saturday, say he was a religious zealot and a lone wolf whose anger about political developments in Iraq may have driven him to an act of terrorism.

Dr. Abdulla was born in Britain but grew up in Baghdad, the son of a well-known and respected doctor, and went on to study at the College of Medicine of Baghdad University, according to associates' accounts.  

(The Scotsman) July 8 - The terror attacks at Glasgow Airport and London were a calculated act of revenge intended to bring the carnage of Baghdad to Britain's streets, investigators have revealed.

Security sources have briefed senior politicians that the failed assaults of last weekend were most likely part of a "profoundly political campaign" to punish the UK for its part in the invasion and occupation of Iraq.