TWO NHS doctors accused of plotting the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport are expected to go on trial today.

TWO NHS doctors accused of plotting the terrorist attack on Glasgow Airport are expected to go on trial today.

Jordanian national Mohammed Jamil Asha, 28, and Iraqi Bilal Abdullah, 29, are accused of crashing a flaming Jeep Cherokee, loaded with gas canisters and petrol, into security barriers at the airport's main terminal.

First attack on Scottish soil

IT was the day that terror came to Scotland.

More than 35,000 passengers were due to fly out of Glasgow Airport on June 30, 2007.

The first major terror attack on Scottish soil took place at 3.15pm when the bombers tried to drive a Jeep Cherokee into the main terminal building.

On impact, the car, with the driver and one passenger inside, burst into flames. As holidaymakers looked on, the driver was seen pouring petrol on himself and the car.

As police, airport staff and passengers struggled with the suspects, thousands poured out of the main terminal.

Passengers already on planes were kept on the runway for seven hours while eyewitnesses were ushered to a hotel in the outskirts of the airport.

Remarkably, the airport reopened within 24 hours of the attempted strike.

Around 16,000 passengers flew out the following day, as forensic teams worked inside.

The events of that day have left a lasting legacy at the airport with more than £4million spent on tough new security measures.

The attack happened on June 30, 2007, while thousands of holidaymakers and staff were inside the building.

The trial is expected to begin today but it's thought there will be at least a week of legal arguments before the prosecution opens its case.

It is likely to last at least 12 weeks.

The pair, who are appearing at Woolwich Crown Court in London, are also accused of planning a similar attack in London a day earlier, leaving two Mercedes packed with gas cylinders and nails outside Tiger Tiger nightclub in Haymarket.

The bombs failed to explode.

Abdullah, of the halls of residence, Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, and Asha, of Sunningdale Grove, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, are accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions between January 1, 2006, and July 1, 2007.

Both men deny the charges.

Abdullah, who worked at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, was the first person to be charged in connection with the plots.

He was arrested by police immediately after the airport attack.

Asha was arrested in a police swoop while travelling north on the M6 in Cheshire.

His wife Marwa Asha, 27, who was arrested at the same time, was later released without charge.

Another man, Kafeel Ahmed, 27, was driving the Jeep which crashed into the terminal building.

Ahmed, an engineer who rented a home in Houston, Renfrewshire, set himself on fire and died in August 2007 after suffering third-degree burns to 90% of his body.

Following a hearing at the Old Bailey in London in April, 26-year-old Sabeel Ahmed was jailed for 18 months for withholding information from police.