Police investigating the attempted knifepoint abduction of an RAF serviceman said there may have been an element of “pre-planning” and they cannot rule out terrorism as a motive.

RAF jets were scrambled more than 50 times in six years to intercept Russian military aircraft.

Two British citizens who were fighting for so-called Islamic State (IS) were killed in an RAF drone strike in Syria which was carried out without parliamentary approval, prime minister David Cameron has said.

Military authorities are trying to collect a pair of missiles lying on the runway of Britain’s Akrotiri air base in Cyprus after they detached from a landing Tornado.