The Pentagon has confirmed reports that the United States has withdrawn all B-1 bomber planes from Royal Air Force Fairford, the UK airbase where a suspicious incident triggered nearby evacuations, AFP reports.
A statement from a Pentagon official said “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.”
The statement noted that “operational security precluded us from confirming the movement of our assets and forces in real-time.” Police were called to the base in southwest England last Sunday after a local farmer reported a group of men with several vans engaged in “suspicious” activity.
The scare forced evacuations at 85 homes near the airbase, which was used to launch strikes on Iran.
