What we know about RAF Fairford counter-terror probe

Five men who were arrested on suspicion of explosive and terrorism offences after a major incident was declared at an RAF airbase in the west of England have been released on police bail.

Three vans were spotted near RAF Fairford in the early hours of Sunday morning and the police were called. A major incident was declared, and everyone in the small village of Whelford was evacuated.

The head of Counter Terrorism Policing has stressed that the five men remain under investigation and must adhere to strict bail conditions. It has since come to light that the first of two 999 calls was made by one of the arrested men.

A dual UK-Iranian national, aged 25, has also since been arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts.

Investigators are exploring "multiple lines of enquiry", Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor said on Monday, including whether proxies or individuals were working on behalf of a foreign state - knowingly or not.

Here is a summary of what we know so far.

Gloucestershire Police said it had received a call about "three suspicious vehicles" travelling towards RAF Fairford at 00:45 BST on Sunday.

Five men were later arrested near Whelford, a small village which lies directly east of the base.

A bomb disposal team was deployed to the village to examine a number of vehicles, police said, around which a 400m (1,312ft) cordon was in place.

Aerial pictures showed a remote-controlled robot approaching some stationary white vans in a wooded area.

Counter Terrorism Policing is leading the investigation, and on Tuesday it confirmed that three vehicles had undergone an "extensive examination" with the support of military and forensic experts.

No improvised explosive devices were found in the vans, but a "quantity of petrol" was recovered, Assistant Commissioner Taylor said.

RAF Fairford is located in the Cotswolds, about four miles (6.4km) south of the town of Fairford, which sits along the River Coln.

The base shares a long history with the American military, and has recently been used by US warplanes as a staging post for defensive strikes on Iran.

The US military said it was "working closely" with its UK counterparts "to monitor this situation, minimise impacts and ensure the safety of US personnel, their families, and the local community".

On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News that it was clear a "foreign actor" had been involved.

Without providing evidence or giving further details, he told the "Hannity" programme: "What happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a very serious situation. It's one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor."

Speaking earlier at the Oval Office, US President Donald Trump said he was "surprised" the five men who were arrested had been released.

"We know everything about them, we would not have released them," he said, adding that the UK had worked with the US "very closely" on this.

Trump earlier said those arrested were "looking to do big damage", adding: "We had them under view for a long time, and we got them."

Five men were initially detained on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act before being further arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act.

Counter Terrorism Policing have not named the men, but said they were UK nationals aged between 23 and 25, all from London.

They were released on police bail "subject to stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others" as they remained under investigation, Assistant Commissioner Taylor said.

BBC Your Voice received an image purporting to show the five men under arrest. They are sitting on the ground, shirtless and seem to be handcuffed.

The BBC has been unable to verify the original source but BBC Verify has geolocated the image and confirmed it appeared to be authentic.

BBC Verify has also been looking into the branding of the three white vans parked near RAF Fairford.

A verified image shows a red logo on one of the vans reading "Fuel 2You", with a mobile phone number also visible.

When contacted by the BBC, the number went straight to an automated Lycamobile voice message system.

A sixth man - a dual UK-Iranian national - has also been arrested in Westminster, London, counter-terror police said on Thursday.

BBC Verify found no evidence that "Fuel 2You" is a legitimate company operating in the UK or a real brand name.

However, BBC Verify contacted Fuel2U, a company with a similar name which delivers diesel across the UK. A spokesperson told us the vans were "nothing to do" with the company.

"From our perspective, it's a very unfortunate coincidence," they said. "It's spelled differently. The phone number is different. The branding is different entirely, so it's not a historic version of our brand."

They added that "all of our vans are present and accounted for" and "even if it was one of our vans that was stolen, it would have our logo on it. That is not our logo".

The company also confirmed it was a newly-launched business and had never used the name "Fuel 2You" in any previous form. Its branding is also accented green, rather than red.

The BBC understands that one of five men arrested had dialled 999 himself at 00:45.

About an hour later, a farmer who was heading home from a party also called 999, after seeing "a large group of hooded and masked men" near the vans who started to "panic" when they saw her.

The woman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she called the Ministry of Defence police at RAF Fairford but received no answer. She then rang 999 at 01:36 BST and said "within 10 minutes the village was full of armed police".

"I believe that my 999 call foiled whatever plans they had."

"I am absolutely staggered that it was left to me as a member of the public to see and report this," she said.

"Someone really dropped the ball on this."

Another resident described the moment he said he saw police apprehend the suspects.

Jeff - who did not give his surname - told the BBC he heard "shouting outside his front door", although he could not be sure where it came from.

He said he then looked out of his window and saw "people being held by police outside".

A large cordon remains in place near the base, while 85 households who were evacuated on Sunday have now been told by Gloucestershire Police that they can return home.

But police have said a cordon will remain around the three vehicles.

Gloucestershire Constabulary's Temporary Chief Constable Maggie Blyth said the last 48 hours had thrown "our usually quiet and peaceful communities under the spotlight of the international media".

Airspace restrictions have also been put in place above the base - nobody can fly within a five mile (8km) zone encircling it without permission. Banned items include balloons, kites, parachutes and paragliders.

Several people have told the BBC they were woken by police in the early hours of Sunday and ordered to leave.

"We just had to throw our clothes on and come. We didn't know anything," one resident, who named herself only as Jo, said.

Another resident, Jason, said: "It all happened very quickly. We just packed our stuff up and came here."

Prime Minister Andy Burnham chaired a Cobra meeting on Monday afternoon and urged people "not to speculate while the authorities establish the full facts".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Monday, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting thanked members of the public for their vigilance and quick action to alert emergency services to the plot.

He added that the farmer who told the BBC about her 999 call "did the right thing" in reporting the men but said she only had a "partial picture", without expanding further.

The defence secretary said "this is not the time for me to speculate" over whether there was any Iranian involvement in the plot.

However on Wednesday, Burnham told the BBC that there are "strong indications" of Iranian involvement.

"We will say more in due course but we can confirm... that we believe Iran to have played a part," he told the BBC. He did not provide further details.

The Iranian embassy in London said it "categorically rejects and strongly condemns" what it called "unfounded and malicious speculations" linking Iran to the incident, adding that these would "serve no purpose other than to fuel Iranophobia propaganda in the UK".

In a statement, the embassy said Iran "reserves the right to take appropriate legal measures, as necessary, to safeguard the rights and interests of the country and its people in response to misleading and damaging media narratives".

RAF Fairford has been used as a forward operating location by the US Air Force (USAF) for decades.

The base was occupied by USAF Strategic Air Command during the Cold War and later the first Gulf War in 1991.

B-52 bombers were also deployed by USAF from RAF Fairford on raids to Iraq in 2003.

It was most recently used on 1 March, following a decision by former UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to allow the US to use UK bases - including RAF Fairford - for "defensive" strikes on Iranian capabilities.

Conflict was sparked across the Middle East after the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on 28 February.

Iran responded by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf.