Interior minister John Reid warned yesterday that another attempted terrorist attack on Britain was ?highly likely? after police said they had thwarted a plot to blow up transatlantic airliners. ?We think we have the main suspects in this particular plot,? Home Secretary Reid said, ?but there could be others out there, perhaps people we don?t know.?

?It is highly likely there will be another terrorist attempt,? he told BBC television. ?The threat of a terrorist attack in the United Kingdom is still very substantial.?

Reid said at least four plots had been thwarted since July last year when four Islamist suicide bombers killed 52 people on London buses and trains, and he did not deny media claims that police were hun-ting up to 25 terrorist cells in Britain.

Meanwhile, Muslims criticised the government on Friday for publishing the names of 19 men who police sources say are under arrest for allegedly plotting to blow up passenger planes bound for the United States.The government instructed the Bank of England to publish the names on its Web site on Thursday, just hours after police arrested 24 people in connection with the suspected plot.Police have not named the 24 but a police source confirmed they include the 19 named by the central bank. Although the bank did not give the addresses of the 19, it listed their dates of birth and the areas where they live.

The bank?s action is unusual. Normally, authorities do not publish the names of suspects until they have been formally charged and identified by the police.

But the government defended the move, saying it was essential to ensure the assets of the 19 were frozen.