Five members of the public were injured when the Jeep Cherokee rammed the terminal building and burst into flames. One of them is in a stable condition in hospital. After emergency services had dealt with the blaze, witnesses recounted what happened.

Charlene Young said: “We were just getting ready to check in, and next minute we saw the big Jeep come in through the main building doors. The bonnet was half-way in, and he was revving up. The next minute the car just blew up.” Jackie Kennedy said: “I thought, ‘why is that guy not getting out of the car?’ Then he got a five-litre, white plastic drum – obviously petrol or whatever – and poured it over himself inside the car.”

Speaking on British TV, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown praised what he called the magnificent work of the police, the security services and the public in maintaining vigilance. But he urged a constant state of alert against a long-term and sustained threat.

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