Police arrests Mideast doctors

London: Two more suspects were arrested in Scotlanda widening hunt for members of a suspected Al Qaida cell which rammed a fuel-packed jeep into Glasgow airport terminal and left two car bombs in London, police said yesterday.

A total of seven people are now in custody in connection with the attacks. Two of those arrested were confirmed to be doctors, one of whom qualified in Iraq and the other in Jordan.

The Iraqi-trained doctor was named by police sources as Bilal Abdullah and the Jordanian-trained doctor as Mohammad Asha. Asha's wife has also been arrested.

The Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, outside Glasgow, confirmed Abdullah had worked at the hospital as a doctor.

Housing blocks at the hospital were cordoned off by police and what were believed to be controlled detonations were carried out in the area as authorities stayed on high alert.

Fearing attacks, police banned cars and other vehicles from directly approaching airports and security measures were stepped up across the country as authorities kept the threat level at "critical", the highest rating.

The latest arrests, made on Sunday night in Paisley, involved two men, one 25 and one 28, who were not believed to be of Scottish origin.