Two men were arrested at Glasgow Airport yesterday after an attempted car bombing which caused widespread chaos but no loss of life.

A Jeep Cherokee car was driven into the entry doors of the airport at 3.15pm, shaking the nation out of its complacent belief that such acts of terrorism are a London phenomenon.

Having failed to breach the doors with the car, one of its occupants sprinkled petrol over himself and the vehicle, causing an explosion that set the front of the airport check-in area alight.

Last night the security services were treating the incident as a one-off event not connected to the double car bombing attempt on central London in the early hours of Friday morning. Strathclyde Police, however, said it was "unknown" and too early to say if the incident was connected to the London bombings.

Eyewitnesses spoke of one man of Asian appearance fighting with police officers and airport officials outside the front of Glasgow Terminal One, the main building, after the attempt to crash the vehicle into the main doors. Another man from the car was seen wandering in and out of the building before being restrained.

Stephen Clarkson, a bystander at the airport, helped police restrain one of the men, who emerged from the vehicle with his clothes alight. "I managed to knock the guy to the ground. He was disorientated, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do it because he was quite a big fellow. His clothes were practically burned from his body. He was just talking gibberish."

He added: "There was one policeman on the scene more or less on impact. I think it was an airport official who put the flames on the man out. Immediately after that he got off the ground, still smouldering, and got to the boot of the Jeep, and that's when the police approached him and tried to restrain him. He started fighting with the police.

"The second man walked into the terminal and walked out shortly afterwards.The Jeep exploded not long after the police told everyone to move back."

It is understood that the injured arrested man was taken to hospital and the other man taken to Govan police station.

Other eyewitnesses reported a repeated, deliberate and determined attempt by the driver of the Jeep to ram the vehicle into the terminal building, after which he used a white container of petrol to try to set himself and the vehicle alight.

Thomas Conroy, a maintenance worker at the airport, said colleagues had seen a car hit the building.

"There was a huge bang and then the car went up and the terminal itself caught fire," said Conroy.

"A big Cherokee was rammed right into the entry doors. A woman said he tried to rev the wheels then and someone saw him pour bottles of petrol over himself."

Eyewitness James Edgar said an ordinary car fire would burn itself out quickly, "but this went on and on". He added: "There were a few pops, obviously the fuel tanks would have gone, but it was as if there was maybe more accelerant in the vehicle."

Edgar thought some of the building had caught fire as well, "so that may have added to the effect. He tried to get through the main door frame, but the bollards stopped him from going through. If he'd got through, he'd have killed hundreds, obviously."

The incident happened on the first day of the Scottish school holidays and coincided with the state opening of the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh by the Queen.

Downing Street said that Prime Minister Gordon Brown was "being kept aware" of the situation in Glasgow. And the Home Office said it was monitoring events, which were being handled by Strathclyde Police.

A Home Office spokesman said that the official security alert level remained at "severe", as it has been for some time. The Cobra security committee, already co-ordinating a huge manhunt for the perpetrators of the attempted London bombings, met again last night to access the situation and determine if there was a link between the Glasgow and London attacks.

Donald Morrison, spokesman for the British Airports Authority, which owns Glasgow airport, said the airport was closed and flights suspended. Travellers were told not to travel to the airport until further notice.

Mohammed Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central, which is home to the largest Asian community in Scotland, warned against jumping to any premature conclusions.

"This is very a serious concern for all of us in Scotland, and it will be horrifying and shocking for the people at the airport," said Sarwar. "My advice is to remain calm and not jump to any conclusions or speculation before the police initiate an investigation."

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded in the rain outside the terminal building. Marion MacKinnon, a BBC editor en route to Stornoway, said that the evacuation from the two-storey terminal building had gone calmly.

"We were upstairs in departures when the fire alarm went off and we were told that that we had to leave the building," she said.

"We heard a lot of screaming and shouting from down below. People were running out from downstairs, but upstairs things were quite calm until we saw smoke."

Western Isles council convener Alex MacDonald was also trapped at the airport.

"I didn't hear an explosion or anything else, but we saw smoke as we left the building," he said. "We were sent out to stand in the rain about 200 feet from where the fire engines were still sending foam and water into the building. They're moving us further away now. We've been told that we won't be leaving tonight."

Mohammed Shaheen, chairman of an interfaith charity and a past president of the Central Mosque in Glasgow, was shocked to hear of the incident but insisted it should not affect relations with the Muslim community in the city.

"The community here is very sensible and the police co-ordinate with us in teaching tolerance. We have very good relations with the multi-faith community, Glasgow is a very special city."

The Sunday Herald will be keeping readers up to date with new developments as they happen.

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