UK police blocked roads leading to the Fairford air baseImage: Toby Shepheard\/REUTERS<\/p>\n
Counter-terrorism police were leading the probe.<\/p>\n
“We are in the early stages of an investigation,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans said in an online statement<\/a>, adding that the authorities were “working closely with our partners” to understand the\u00a0circumstances of the incident.<\/p>\n The statement urged the public to share any information they may have related to the issue.<\/p>\n Bomb disposal units examining three ‘suspicious vehicles’<\/p>\n Local police said they had received\u00a0a call overnight on Sunday\u00a0about “three suspicious vehicles” heading to the base.<\/p>\n “Armed officers responded and subsequently arrested five men in the Whelford area,”\u00a0assistant chief constable Richard Ocone told reporters.<\/p>\n He added that a cordon of 400 meters, or approximately 1\/4 of a mile, has been put in place around the\u00a0vehicles “while the army’s explosive ordinance disposal unit examine them.”<\/p>\n “As a precaution, around 85 households have been advised to evacuate while these examinations take place,”\u00a0Ocone said.<\/p>\n He added that some of the evacuees were taken to a nearby\u00a0leisure center.<\/p>\n The Gloucestershire police representative also asked the public “not to speculate” but follow official channels instead.<\/p>\n Officials stay tight-lipped<\/p>\n A spokesperson for \u200bthe US Air Force refused to discuss specific steps when contacted by the Reuters news agency, saying only that both US\u00a0and British forces “remain vigilant and will take \u2060appropriate \u200bactions to ensure the safety and security of our \u200bUS service members, civilians, contractors, and their families.”<\/p>\n The background for the incident was not immediately clear.<\/p>\n The UK has allowed the US to use Fairford for its war against Iran<\/a>, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warning UK officials against the move this summer. The evacuations also come at a time of heightened tensions in Northern Ireland<\/a>, and less than two months after Germany discovered an explosive-laden drone at the Leipzig airport<\/a>, which its authorities attributed to Russia.<\/p>\n Edited by: Sean Sinico and Wesley Dockery\u00a0<\/p>\nThis Fairford base gate was blocked by construction machinery Image: Toby Shepheard\/REUTERS<\/p>\n