The front pages of newspapers across Britain were plastered on Monday with the same grainy photograph, one showing five men, their faces blurred, being detained by police in the village of Whelford, England, who were investigating a possible terrorist plot.

By Monday, armed officers were monitoring roadblocks on the country roads leading to the sprawling military base that has been used since spring for U.S. operations related to the war in Iran.

More than a day after the police arrested the men, Whelford remained cordoned off after dozens of people had been evacuated from their homes. The men were released on bail on Monday afternoon, but the police said the investigation was continuing.

The village is one of three localities that butt up against R.A.F. Fairford, a British base in a quiet corner of southern England. They have been thrust onto the international stage and swirl with questions about what the men were doing and at whose instruction.

The villages of Whelford and Kempsford and the town of Fairford sit in a triangle around the base. Fairford’s residents have had a front-row seat to the U.S. bombers that have been flying in and out with renewed frequency since the start of the war with Iran this year, swooping low over the town.

Helen Cheese-Probert, whose thatched-roof home is a short walk from the base in Kempsford, said she had awaken on Sunday morning by numerous calls from friends and family asking if she was all right.