\n
<\/p>\n
CIRENCESTER, United Kingdom: Residents in a bucolic corner of southwestern England said they were \u201cspooked\u201d by an air base used by the US military in its war against Iran as bomb experts descended on the area on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Stephanie\u2019s family was one of 85 households evacuated from the village of Whelford, around a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the Royal Air Force (RAF) Fairford air base, in the early hours of Sunday after authorities were alerted to \u201csuspicious vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police have not yet confirmed the nature or source of the threat near the base, but said they arrested five men on suspicion of \u201cpreparing a terrorist act.\u201d Broadcast aerial footage showed a bomb disposal robot moving around the vans.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Villagers were evacuated to a leisure center 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m absolutely exhausted,\u201d Stephanie, who didn\u2019t want to share her last name, told AFP, adding the danger of the situation \u201cdidn\u2019t quite hit me till now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite a lovely, small village. It\u2019s a real shame,\u201d said Stephanie.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t expect anything to happen around here. It\u2019s just a lovely quaint area of the Cotswolds,\u201d said 20-year-old university student George Currie, who lives in the market town of Cirencester, home to a medieval church and neat rows of limestone houses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure all the residents of Fairford are quite spooked and jumped about it,\u201d said Currie.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith how important Fairford has been with the air base, I\u2019d be quite scared to live there at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In March, Britain gave the United States permission to use Fairford air base for \u201cspecific defensive operations into Iran\u201d to destroy Iranian missiles.<\/p>\n
Since then, US bombers and other planes have been seen taking off and landing from the airfield.<\/p>\n
Fairford has previously been used by the US military for operations during the Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq War.<\/p>\n
\u2018REALITY CHECK\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n A dog-walker in Cirencester, who did not want to give his name, said his wife had been \u201cworried about threats to Fairford.\u201d<\/p>\n So the news \u201cwas like her nightmares have come true,\u201d said the man.<\/p>\n Residents said the air base is generally quiet apart from a major annual airshow that brings visitors from several countries.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s no trouble at all,\u201d said the dog walker about living near the base. \u201cBut actually using it as a bomber base is a bit worrying.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNormally, RAF Fairford is very quiet but at the moment, with Epic Fury, that\u2019s changed,\u201d local councillor Tristan Wilkinson told AFP, referring to the US military codename for its attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThe local community and the authorities have had greater vigilance around the base,\u201d in recent months, Wilkinson added.<\/p>\n The interior ministry has previously accused Iran and Russia of using proxies to carry out criminal activities on their behalf on UK territory.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, with everything that\u2019s been going on, with the activity around the air base, something like that is bound to happen,\u201d said 21-year-old Victor Compton.<\/p>\n \u201cThe effects of war reach into the safest parts of the world,\u201d added the university student, saying it was a \u201cbit of a reality check.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n