Residents in a bucolic corner of southwestern England said they were “spooked” by an air base used by the US military in its war against Iran as bomb experts descended on the area on Sunday.
Police have not yet confirmed the nature or source of the threat near the base, but said they arrested five men on suspicion of “preparing a terrorist act”. A resident told UK media she had alerted emergency services after seeing three vans blocking a road near the village and a group of men wearing hoods and balaclavas. “I’m sure all the residents of Fairford are quite spooked and jumped about it,” said Currie. Residents said the air base is generally quiet apart from a major annual airshow that brings visitors from several countries. “The local community and the authorities have had greater vigilance around the base,” in recent months, Wilkinson added.
Broadcast aerial footage showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans. Villagers were evacuated to a leisure centre in the nearby town of Cirencester, where Stephanie was planning to hunker down for the night with her puppy and two cats as a police cordon remained in place.
Stephanie’s family was one of 85 households evacuated from the village of Whelford, around a mile from the Royal Air Force Fairford air base, in the early hours of Sunday after authorities were alerted to “suspicious vehicles”.
