UK police have arrested five men who were seen travelling in “suspicious vehicles” towards an army base.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating the men, who are suspected of offences under the country’s Explosives Act.
The U.S. has used the base to launch bomb-carrying aircraft in strikes against Iran.
Here’s what we know so far.
Background
The U.S. has long used a UK Royal Air Force base (RAF Fairford) to launch bomber planes to the Middle East.
It also has troops stationed there.
RAF Fairford is closer to the Middle East than the U.S. and has a runway long enough to allow heavy bomber planes to get off the ground.
After the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran earlier this year, then-UK PM Keir Starmer approved the U.S’ use of Fairford to launch “defensive” strikes.
Incident
Early on Sunday morning (local time), according to UK media, a woman driving home from a party saw three white vans parked on a country road near RAF Fairford.
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The woman, who has not been named publicly, told The Telegraph that as she turned her car around in front of the vans, she saw a group of men running through the trees towards the military base.
In response, she called emergency services.
Police then caught and arrested five men.
Police comments
Speaking to media on Sunday afternoon (UK time), local assistant chief constable Richard Ocone said officers had arrested five men “on suspicion of committing offences” related to explosives.
Ocone said counter-terrorism police had taken over the investigation, and asked the community not to speculate about the incident.
Official response
UK PM Andy Burnham called the incident “deeply concerning,” and like the police, asked people not to speculate about the facts.
The UK’s terrorism monitoring agency raised the level of threat of a terrorist attack to “severe” in May, meaning authorities predicted an attack was highly likely in the near future.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also weighed in on the incident, saying the men were “looking to do big damage” and that American authorities “had them under view for a long time”.
