▲ Police stand guard after an alleged bomb plot was uncovered near the UK Royal Air Force Fairford base on September 27, 2026.
British police have arrested five men and are investigating them on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism following an alleged bomb plot uncovered near the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford base, which is used by the US Air Force.
The British daily Telegraph reported on the 27th (local time) that counterterrorism police are strongly looking into the possibility of Iranian involvement in the incident.
According to the Associated Press, Gloucestershire Police were dispatched to the nearby Welford area around 12:45 a.m. that day after receiving reports from residents about suspicious vehicles appearing to head toward the Fairford base.
Armed police arrested five men at the scene, and they are currently in custody undergoing police questioning.
Fairford is one of Europe's key bases used by the US Air Force for military operations targeting Iran, and it houses the headquarters of the US Air Force's 501st Combat Support Wing and 420th Air Base Squadron.
Police consider Iran to be the most likely state actor behind the suspected bomb plot, The Telegraph reported.
However, it was reported that the possibility of a Russian sabotage operation or Islamist plots has not been ruled out.
Police explained that the investigation is in its early stages and that they are working with relevant agencies to ascertain the facts.
Antonio Giustozzi, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in the UK, told The Telegraph that the incident appeared to be an attempted suicide attack using multiple vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs).
Previously in July, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that any bases mobilized for attacks against Iran could be legitimate targets and threatened to strike the Fairford base.
Anonymous sources speaking to The Telegraph suggested that if Iran is linked to the plot, it was unlikely to have followed past practices of using criminals as proxies, and was more likely to have been directly involved.
The threat level at the Fairford base has been raised to its highest level, and the threat level at another US-hosted RAF base, RAF Lakenheath, has also been raised to the second-highest level.
The incident prompted evacuation orders for hundreds of nearby residents, and British Army bomb disposal specialists were deployed to examine the vehicles.
Cordon lines remained in place into the evening of the 27th, and some residents were unable to return home through the night.
Photos taken by residents showed five men lying face down on the ground, stripped to the waist and handcuffed, surrounded by armed police officers.
Aerial footage captured a bomb disposal robot moving between three white vans.
Large black barrels were scattered around the vehicles, and explosive experts stated that these barrels could have been packed with massive quantities of explosives such as ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO).
Investigators are examining the substances found in the vans, and the contents are reportedly consistent with the suspects having attempted to manufacture IEDs.
A local female farmer living nearby told The Telegraph that while driving home in the early hours of the morning on the day of the incident, she found vans blocking the road with no one seemingly inside them.
The farmer said that as she was turning her car around to leave, she saw young men of Middle Eastern appearance fleeing through the trees, thinking to herself, "What on earth are those people doing?"
She reported that some of the men were wearing masks or balaclavas.
She added that they appeared to have just arrived at the scene, saying, "It's a good thing we spotted them."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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