MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US withdraws all its bombers from Britain's RAF Fairford base

The base, in Gloucestershire, is a forward operating location for the US Air Force's Global Strike Command

The United States has withdrawn all the bombers it had deployed at RAF Fairford, in western England, a week after the incident near the base that British counter-terrorism police are investigating. Washington gave no reason for the decision.

“While operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real time, we can acknowledge now that all US bombers that were deployed to RAF Fairford have re-deployed to their home stations in the United States,” a Defense Department official said on Sunday. The aircraft were B-1B Lancer bombers, around a dozen according to CNN; six B-52s had already returned in late September.

The base, in Gloucestershire, is a forward operating location for the US Air Force's Global Strike Command. Since March, bombers had flown from there in the war against Iran, after the British government approved its use for what it called defensive strikes.

On September 27, five men were arrested near the base after reports of three suspicious vehicles, and on Thursday police arrested a sixth man, a dual British-Iranian national, in London. All six are on bail and none has been charged. Washington publicly criticised the suspects' release, which Prime Minister Andy Burnham defended, citing the strict conditions imposed.

Burnham has said there are “strong indications” that Iran played a part in the incident, without giving details. Tehran denies any involvement. The British government had not commented on the bombers' withdrawal at the time of writing.