Confusion as Pakistan denies al-Qaida plot to attack Heathrow

CONFUSION surrounds claims that an al-Qaida plan to attack Heathrow airport was foiled by British police.

Reports claimed a terror suspect arrested in Pakistan had a laptop with maps and photographs of Heathrow, and underpasses of other London buildings.

The Times newspaper said an attack was in its "final stages" but had been averted after British police acted on Pakistani intelligence. But government officials in Pakistan denied any details were passed to Britain.

The Times claimed Naeem Noor Khan had visited Britain at least six times in recent years. He had been passing coded information to senior al-Qaida figures regarding the Heathrow plot, the paper alleged.

Reports from the AP news agency quoted an unnamed intelligence official who claimed Khan's computer, seized when he was arrested, contained photographs of Heathrow airport and underpasses running beneath several buildings in London.

And an anonymous source told the AFP news agency that information from the arrest had provided a "deep insight" into the workings of al-Qaida.

The source told AFP: "[Khan] was involved in planning for attacks at Heathrow airport London some time ago and was wanted by the US Government."

The source also claimed that information from Khan's computers had been passed on to both US and British officials.

But Pakistan's interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat later said the British authorities had not received information from Pakistan. "There is no specific information that we gave to Britain," Mr Hayyat said.

The BBC's correspondent in Pakistan, Zaffar Abbas, said nobody there had confirmed the existence of a Heathrow plot.

"Even in the background briefings they have not suggested any plan about Heathrow," he said.

He added that the Pakistani investigators had not revealed details of what they found on Khan's computers, but had confirmed that he was an al-Qaida "communications expert".

And BBC home affairs correspondent Andy Tighe said he understood the photographs of Heathrow uncovered in Pakistan were three or four years old.

The British Home Office said it would not comment on the details of intelligence, but confirmed there had not been a specific threat.

A spokeswoman said: "If there had been a specific, credible threat then we would let the public know."

Heathrow airport has been linked to terrorist attacks several times in recent years.

In February last year, 1,700 policemen and 450 troops were sent to the airport after an alleged Algerian plot to shoot down a plane was uncovered.

Nine years earlier, the IRA launched a series of mortar attacks on the airport, partially paralysing the capital's main air routes.

Khan's capture is one of at least 18 arrests of suspected al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan since 12 July.

Information on Khan's CDs and computers is believed to have led to a raised terror alert in the US.