'Plot bears mark of al-Qaeda'

2006-08-10 16:01

Washington - A plot to bomb multiple airliners flying between Britain and the United States had "the earmarks" of an operation by the al-Qaeda network, said the head of the US federal bureau of investigation on Thursday.

Robert Mueller said investigations were continuing in the plot, foiled by British police with the overnight arrest of 21 suspects, and that it was too early to definitively say who was behind the action.

However, he said, "This had the earmarks of an al-Qaeda plot".

"We have no indication at this point in time of plotting within the United States aligned at all or at all intersecting the plotters and the UK."

"However, that does not mean that there are not others around the world that have the same aspirations and would undertake the same type of plotting."

Homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff also said the foiled operation to bomb multiple US airliners over the Atlantic was "in some respects suggestive of an al-Qaeda plot".

Concrete steps under way

Chertoff a joint press conference with Mueller and other officials said: "They had accumulated and assembled the capabilities that they needed and they were in the final stages of planning before execution."

"I don't want to get very specific for investigative reasons, about each individual step, but this is not a case where this was just in the initial thought stage."

"There were very concrete steps under way to execute all elements of the plan."

"The plot involved attackers carrying components of the bombs in the form of liquid explosives and detonating devices disguised as beverages, electronic devices or other common objects."

The US government responded by raising its threat level for commercial flights from Britain to the United States to "severe," or red, for the first time.

- SAPA