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Police chief quits over blunder
Britain's top counter-terrorism officer has quit after admitting he could have jeopardised an operation which aimed to thwart a possible al-Qaeda terror plot.

Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick resigned after he accidently revealed a a secret document to photographers. Police were forced to bring their operation forward and arrested 12 men - 10 of whom are Pakistanis.

Gordon Brown said Pakistan's government "had to do more" to root out the terrorist elements in its country.

Sources say the planned attack was to be "very soon" and "very, very big".

BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said sources close to the investigation had revealed the counter-terror operation had been launched in response to a possible terrorist plot that had reached its final stages of planning. Although no specific target was mentioned in intelligence, police moved quickly because of concerns over the scale of the attack and the fact that it was going to happen soon, he said.

Security expert Peter Taylor told the BBC the attack was possibly to be made using an improvised explosive device.

The operation, and its subsequent raids in in Manchester, Liverpool and Lancashire, had gone ahead on Wednesday afternoon rather than 0200 BST on Thursday after Mr Quick's memo blunder, Mr Taylor said. The BBC's Daniel Sandford said the change of timings had "put public lives at risk" because it was carried out when people were awake and in public areas.

Police are questioning the 12 arrested men and "deep searches" of addresses are continuing, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner added. Ten of those arrested are Pakistan-born nationals on student visas and one is a UK-born British national.

Gordon Brown said: "Increasingly we have seen terrorist links with Pakistan and Britain. I'll be talking to the Pakistan president Mr Zardari - we want the closest co-operation between Britain and Pakistan to deal with countering terrorism.

"One of the lessons we have learn from the past few years is that Pakistan has to do more to root out terrorist elements in its country as well."
Posted by: john frum 2009-04-09
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=267202