US pulls bombers out of UK's Fairford airbase after arrests

A week after several men were detained at the Royal Air Force (RAF) base in the UK's Fairford on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks, a Pentagon official announced that the United States had removed its B-1 bombers from the base northwest of London.

On Sunday, aircraft monitoring sites showed the B-1 aircraft flying out of the UK base.

"While operational security precluded us from ​confirming the movement of our assets and forces ​in real-time, ‌we can acknowledge now that all US bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home ‌stations in the United States," a Pentagon spokesman wrote ‌in ​a statement.

A dozen B-1 bombers had been stationed at RAF Fairford, the British airbase used by the US. London previously allowed the Pentagon to fly sorties out of Fairford against Iranian missile sites which were threatening ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

UK releases air base plot suspects

What do we know about the suspected plot

Last Sunday, police were called to a base in southwest England after a local farmer reported a group of men in several vans engaging in "suspicious" activity.

Investigators blocked off the area and called in the bomb disposal teams. However, no explosives were found in the vehicles. Later, the five British nationals arrested in connection to the incident were released on bail.

US President Donald Trump voiced his disappointment over their release.

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that Britain had "strong indications" that Iran was involved in a suspected plot targeting the base.

Iran dismissed the accusations as baseless and summoned the British ambassador in Tehran to discuss the issue.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic

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