The United States withdraws its bombers from the British Fairford base after a suspected terrorist incident

Author, Kashila Smith

Published 2 minutes ago

Reading time: 3 minutes

The United States has withdrawn all its bombers from RAF Fairford, the British military base that was the center of an incident being investigated by counter-terrorism police.

A statement issued by a Pentagon official on Sunday confirmed that all bombers had been withdrawn from the base and returned to their original bases in the United States.

While Washington did not provide a reason for the decision, it follows a major incident on September 27 when police were alerted to three “suspicious vehicles” near the air base in Gloucestershire.

Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of committing terrorist offenses near the base and then released on police bail. A sixth man, a British-Iranian national, was later arrested and also released on bail.

Sources in the British government did not deny that Washington's decision came in response to the incident that occurred at the RAF Fairford base.

The BBC was also told that the decision was military rather than political – taken at an operational level – and was communicated by the US military to its British counterparts.

The British Ministry of Defense made no comment.

Days after the incident, Prime Minister Andy Burnham said there were "strong indications" of Iranian involvement, but did not provide further details. Tehran has strongly denied any involvement.

Days after the incident, and before the sixth man was arrested, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News that the matter "clearly involves the involvement of a foreign party."

Rubio did not provide further details, saying at the time that he was restricted in what he could say publicly.

Initially, five men aged between 23 and 25 were arrested in the early hours of Sunday, September 28, after reports of cars heading towards the base run by the US Air Force. All five men were UK nationals from London.

They were arrested on suspicion of explosives-related offences, and later on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, before being released on bail in what police described as an “investigative decision” based on “experience and strategy”.

The sixth man, aged 25, was arrested in London on October 1 on suspicion of planning terrorist acts. Counter-terrorism police confirmed on Saturday 3 October that he had also been released on bail.

RAF Fairford has been used as a forward operating location by the USAF for decades.

In recent months, US bombers took off from the base heading for the Middle East, after the UK agreed to a US request to use them to launch defensive strikes on Iran.

In July, Iran said that “any base used for aggression on Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target for our forces.”