A busy terminal at London Heathrow airport has been reopened after a bomb scare in which seven people were arrested on suspicion of terrorist activities.
Terminal Two at Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, was evacuated for more than an hour while police "checked and cleared" a suspect package, a Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said.
"Passengers have been allowed back into the terminal. There may be some further disruption, but we hope to resume a normal service as soon as possible," an airport spokeswoman added.
Terminal 2 handles European flights and those serving several Arab countries including Algeria, Morocco, Syria and Yemen.
Police questioned six men arrested yesterday under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000 in suburbs to the east and west of Heathrow under the airport's landing and departure flight paths.
They also questioned a Venezuelan national (37) arrested yesterday after a live grenade was found in his baggage at London's second airport of Gatwick, forcing the evacuation of its north terminal.
He had landed at Gatwick with about 125 other passengers on a British Airways flight that originated in Colombia's capital Bogota.
Police refused to confirm British press reports that the man was of Bangladeshi origin. It was not clear if all seven men were connected with each other.
Police described the arrests of the two men in Hounslow, to the east of Heathrow, and the other four - in their twenties - in Langley, outside Slough to the west, as "precautionary".
Armed troops and extra police deployed armoured fighting vehicles and roadblocks around Heathrow on Tuesday amid fears that al-Qaeda might attempt a terrorist attack to coincide with the Muslim festival of Eid. The holiday ends this weekend.
Police are guarding the access road to Stansted Airport, which for several hours was closed to traffic. The airport, northeast of London, caters to budget airlines such as Ryanair and charter carriers.
The exact nature of this week's has not been disclosed.
But the manner in which the soldiers and police were deployed suggested a possible attempt to shoot down a passenger jet with a ground-to-air missile - not unlike an attempt which narrowly missed an Israeli airliner in Kenya in November last year.
It appeared that the security alert would still be in place Saturday when police expect 500,000 people to turn out for two street marches in London to protest against a looming war on Iraq.
AFP