OLD TRAFFORD WAS TERRORIST TARGET

A SUICIDE bomb plot to kill thousands of soccer fans at Saturday’s Manchester United-Liverpool match was dramatically foiled yesterday.

Intelligence chiefs believe al-Qaeda fanatics planned to blow themselves up amid 67,000 unsuspecting supporters. A source said: “The target was Old Trafford.”

The Islamic fanatics planned to sit all around the ground to cause maximum carnage.

They had already bought the tickets for various positions in the stadium, cops revealed last night.

But armed cops foiled the horrific plot - which could have killed thousands watching Manchester United’s home game against Liverpool on Saturday - in a series of dawn raids yesterday.

Ten people were arrested after a massive surveillance operation involving British anti-terror units and American authorities.

A police source said:

“The plot involved several individual bombers in separate parts of the stadium. If successful, any such attack would have caused absolute carnage. Thousands of people could have been killed.”

The planned attack would have had an instant global impact as the game is being televised worldwide.

More than 400 police swooped yesterday after a “major terrorist figure” under surveillance moved to Manchester. Police and intelligence organisations believe he came to direct the massacre, which would have been the first al-Qaeda-style outrage in Britain.

Greater Manchester’s Assistant Chief Constable Dave Whatton said:

“It was an anti-terrorism operation that has been going on for some time and it will continue in the future. This is the first action that the public have become aware of as it is overt. It is set against the background of an increased threat level across the country. The addresses raided will continue to be searched for some time. It is a complex inquiry.”

And he appealed:

“Because of the national heightened threat levels we would still ask people to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to police.”