British terrorists have links in Pakistan: Brown

LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday said that there are links between terrorists in his country and those in Pakistan.
That is an important issue for us to follow through and he will be talking to President Asif Ali Zardari about what Pakistan can do to help UK in the future, he said.
While talking to the media in the UK City of Carlisle, he said: 'we are dealing with a very big terrorist plot. We have been following it for some time. There were a number of people who are suspected of it who have been arrested. That police operation was successful. Let me first thank all of the police forces that have been involved in the arrest of the suspected terrorists. We have been investigating a major terrorist plot and we have got to act early. Our first concern is always the safety of the public. It is right that we took the urgent action.
Earlier, the head of Scotland Yards counter terrorism unit Bob Quick resigned after being told he had lost the confidence of British Intelligence Agency MI5 and the Home Secretary because of his security blunder.
The Assistant Commissioner was photographed entering Downing Street on Wednesday carrying a secret briefing note on which details of the undercover operation - codenamed Pathway - could be seen. After months of undercover surveillance, officers were forced to launch the raids at short notice, and a former Scotland Yard anti-terrorism chief said that the blunder could have 'risked lives.
One suspect was arrested by armed police outside a busy university library in Liverpool.
In his resignation statement on Thursday morning, Quick said:I contacted the Metropolitan Police Authority to inform them of my intention to offer my resignation. I have today offered my resignation in the knowledge that my action could have compromised a major counter-terrorism operation. I deeply regret the disruption caused to colleagues undertaking the operation and remain grateful for the way in which they adapted quickly and professionally to a revised timescale.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed that Quick had resigned not just from his job but from the force, which he joined in 1978 after studying at Exeter and Cambridge universities.
Quick tendered his resignation to Boris Johnson, the London Mayor and Chairman of the Metropolitan police authority, who announced it live on radio, to the surprise of Sir Paul Stephenson, the Commissioner, and Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary. He also announced that John Yates, an Assistant Commissioner, will replace him - becoming the third anti-terrorism chief in three years as an embattled Scotland Yard continues to suffer from upheaval.
British Intelligence Agency MI5 and Counter terrorism police on Wednesday night arrested 12 people, ten of them born in Pakistan, at eight separate addresses after a long covert surveillance operation involving MI5 and police from the North West Counter-Terrorism Unit was compromised.
Senior sources believe that there were plans to attack the Birdcage nightclub in Manchester City centre or the Trafford Centre shopping complex.
The nightclub, which hosts cabaret and dancing showgirls, attracts thousands of people each week.