The Home Office has raised the national security alert to 'critical', the highest threat level, after a suspected car bombing attempt that has closed Glasgow airport.

Witnesses said two Asian-looking men crashed a four-wheel drive vehicle into the doors of the airport’s main terminal building. One of the men got out of the Jeep Cherokee with his clothes on fire. He was restrained by passengers while others put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. The two men were later arrested.

The Paisley hospital where the injured was being treated was evacuated after a suspect device was found, said Chief Constable Willie Rae of Strathclyde Police, who also revealed that the attack was being linked to the two car bombs discovered in London yesterday.

In a televised statement in 10 Downing Street following a meeting of the emergency contingencies committee Cobra, Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged the British people to be "vigilant" and to support the police and security services in their counter-terror measures.

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• Pictures: Glasgow airport attack

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• Pictures: Glasgow airport attack

Mr Brown, who chaired two meetings of Cobra this evening, said it was right to raise the alert to its highest level of "critical".

He said: "Let me first of all thank the police, the security services and all the emergency services for the dedicated professionalism that has been shown in responding to the incidents yesterday in London and now today the attack on Glasgow Airport.

"The first duty of the Government is the security and safety of all the British people, so it is right to raise the level of security at airports and in crowded places in the light of the heightened threat.

"I want all British people to be vigilant and I want them to support the police and all the authorities in the difficult decisions that they have to make.

"I know that the British people will stand together, united, resolute and strong."

One eyewitness at yesterday’s attack in Glasgow, Jackie Kennedy, 46, a beautician from the city, described how she watched one of the occupants of the car douse himself in petrol and set himself alight.

“He had a big smirk on his face. He lifted up what appeared to be a five-litre drum, which I think had petrol in it, and set himself on fire,” she said. “His clothes were melting in front of my very eyes.

“The police tried to pounce on him but he fought back and was struggling with them. It was only when a member of the public punched him in the face that the police managed to restrain him. The police were trying to spray CS gas in his face but it was not working. I can’t believe what I have just seen. I have no doubt this was a terrorist attack.”

One eyewitness said : "Some holidaymaker tried to restrain him, then the police came over and wrestled him to the ground - the fire was burning through his clothes - and finally put him out with a fire extinguisher."

Another said one of the men had tried to open the boot of the vehicle but was not successful.

"Police tried to restrain him but the guy was quite strong and he started fighting off the police," he said.

Eyewitness Fiona Tracey, who had been picking up her daughter from the airport, said she believed people were injured in the incident.

"There were people injured, because I've seen them lying on the road," she said. "I was standing next to departures, I heard a great big massive bang, and then all the folk from departures were running through arrivals."

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