Man U threatened in bomb plot

According to the report, the suicide plotters had already bought the tickets for various positions in the 67,000- capacity Theatre of Dreams stadium. Thousands of people watching Manchester United’s home game against Liverpool would have been killed as the Islamic fanatics blew themselves up, the report said.

But armed cops foiled the plot in a series of raids conducted early morning yesterday in northern and central England.

Ten people were arrested after a massive surveillance operation involving British anti-terror units and American authorities.

Quoting a police source, the report said: “The plot involved several individual bombers in separate parts of the stadium. “If successful, any such attack would have caused absolute carnage. Thousands of people could have been killed.”

The planned attack would have had an instant global impact as the game is being televised worldwide.

More than 400 police swooped yesterday after a “major terrorist figure” under surveillance moved to manchester. Police and intelligence organisations believe he came to direct the massacre, which would have been the first Al-Qaeda-style outrage in Britain. Nine men and one woman were arrested—all Iraqi Kurds or from North Africa.

Special branch and the security services had been monitoring their movements and eavesdropping mobile phone calls for months. The operation involved the US national security agency and GCHQ, the government’s intelligence listening post.

Seven of the suspects were held in Manchester and one each in South Yorkshire, Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

According to the report, all have links to extremist Islamic organisations. They were being quizzed at separate police stations around North West England last night. But it was not clear whether any explosives or weapons had been recovered.