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 Posted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:45 pm Post subject: More Bomb Scares [Fearmongering] |
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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4126393.html
Plane diverted to Italy after bomb note
| Quote: | A British passenger plane en route to an Egyptian resort made an emergency landing Friday in Brindisi, southern Italy, after the pilot reported that a bomb was suspected to be on board, the Italian air traffic agency said.
All passengers disembarked and were safe, state police at the airport said.
Excel said the captain made the decision to land in Italy after a passenger found a note written on the back of an airsickness back that read: "There's a bomb on this aircraft." Excel Airways official Jane Sebuliba called the landing "a precautionary diversion."
Italy's Air Force said it sent an F-16 to escort the plane to the airport.
The airline said that all security checks where followed at London's Gatwick airport prior to departure at 1045 GMT. The plane, carrying 269 passengers and nine crew, was diverted to Brindisi three hours later.
Salvatore De Paolis, a border police officer at the Brindisi airport, said authorities searching the plane had recovered a handwritten note in English that said there was a bomb on the plane. De Paolis told Sky Tg 24 television news that the search was continuing.
Excel said the flight was expected to resume later Friday.
The ENAV agency said the plane, a Boeing 767 with Excel Airways, was bound for Hurghada, Egypt. Located on Egypt's Red Sea coast, the large Hurghada resort is famous for snorkeling and is a prime destination for low-cost flights from Europe.
The emergency landing came amid a series of terror alerts and scares centered around planes.
A 59-year-old woman caused a security scare when she allegedly passed notes to crew members, urinated on the floor and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the Sept. 11 attacks on the London-to-Washington, D.C., flight on Wednesday.
United 923, with 182 passengers and 12 crew members, was diverted to Boston and landed safely _ with two fighter jets escorting it _ after the pilot declared an emergency on board.
That scare came a week after London authorities said they foiled a terror plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights. As many as 17 people have been arrested in Pakistan in connection with the London terror plot, but federal officials have said they have no indications that Mayo had any links to terrorism.
And West Virginia airport terminal was evacuated Thursday after two bottles of liquid found in a woman's carryon luggage twice tested positive for explosives residue.
Chemical tests later Thursday turned up no explosives in the bottles, and the airport was reopened after nearly 10 hours. |
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2139974,00.html
German Police Release Bomb Suspect Images, Set Reward
| Quote: | German Police Release Bomb Suspect Images, Set Reward
Police believe the bombs were meant to be part of a coordinated attackPolice believe the bombs were meant to be part of a coordinated attack
The German Criminal Police Office on Friday released images taken from a surveillance camera of the two suspects in the attempted bombing of two trains. Police believe the plot was an attempted terror attack.
The German investigators working on the case surrounding the two suitcase bombs found on trains in Koblenz and Dortmund at the end of July released images obtained from surveillance cameras of two suspects in the suspected terror plot.
The authorities announced that there would be a reward of 50,000 ($64,195) euros for any information which would lead to the capture of the two young men in the grainy photos, who were both described as being from "southern countries."
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) revealed that the evidence had led to one suspect being identified, but so far they have no details of his background and activities. They warn that the man could still be at large.
German police are searching for these two menBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: German police are searching for these two men
The authorities also revealed that they are circulating details within the intelligence community of the second suspect who may have been involved in the plot.
"We have very serious concerns about the background of this intended attack," the security source added.
Terror attack plot "highly likely"
The BKA believe that Germany was being targeted for terrorist attacks and that if the explosive devices had been detonated, their size and construction would have created devastation and death on a scale reminiscent of the July 7, 2005 attacks on the London transport system.
Both of the suitcases discovered on July 31 contained gas cylinders rigged up to an ignition mechanism and had been left in two regional trains which usually run at the height of the commuter rush hour. The suitcases were discovered by rail staff when the trains terminated at the two hub stations. The construction of the devices and the potential impact the explosions would have had suggests a sophisticated plot.
The BKA believes that the planned attack could have been the work of a terrorist organization operating in Germany.
Terror plot "highly likely"
High-ranking security experts told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that it was "highly likely" that the suitcase bombs were part of a terrorist plot to attack the German rail system.
A German security official with one of the canistersBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: A German security official with one of the canisters
Investigations by BKA engineers revealed that the bombs were set up in a way that simultaneous detonation would have been possible and that they would generate "an explosive force so big that the explosion would have reached the dimension of the subway attack on London in the summer of 2005," a high-ranking security source told the newspaper.
In the London attacks, 52 people were killed and over 700 were injured when suicide bombers struck on three underground trains and a bus.
No Lebanon connection
The authorities dismissed claims that the German plot was connected to the on-going instability in Lebanon despite the discovery of a smaller bag within one of the suitcases which was printed with Arab text and comes from a business in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
Many of these bags could have arrived in Germany in the past few months and it was not sufficient evidence to connect the plot to Lebanon, investigators said.
The investigation has fired an intense debate in Germany regarding the expansion of video surveillance in railway stations and in trains. Some German states have already taken steps to increase their "big brother" security systems.
Debate rages on increased surveillance
The conservative-controlled Hamburg state government wants to add more cameras to streets and public places, not just railway stations and trains.
Opinions differ on what measures should be takenBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Opinions differ on what measures should be taken
In Brandenburg, Interior Minister Jörg Schönbohm of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said that the state was considering limiting surveillance to people getting on and off trains in an attempt to dodge the controversial topic of data protection.
However, Federal data protection czar Peter Schaar has pleaded for more to be done, with extra staff and cameras placed at all railway stations and on trains to increase security.
DW staff (nda)
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