Cops deny bomber on the loose

2004-01-08 19:26

Paris - French investigations have found no evidence that a ticket-holder who did not show up for a trans-Atlantic flight might have been an Afghan-trained al-Qaeda sympathiser armed with a bomb, police said on Thursday.

The United States ABC television network said this week that European authorities were searching for a man with alleged al-Qaeda links who failed to board a Paris to Los Angeles flight on Christmas Eve - one of six Air France flights cancelled amid security fears.

ABC reported the passenger had a French passport, was believed to have undergone training in Afghanistan and was feared to have a small bomb that might evade airport security.

But French police, distancing themselves from earlier comments by France's justice minister who said a no-show passenger was being sought, said they had no reason to believe that an al-Qaeda bomber is on the loose.

"French intelligence services in constant touch with American partners conducted additional investigations that produced no new indications that could confirm the theory put forward by American media," said a police spokesperson.

Nothing to sugest anything is amiss

"The investigations turned up nothing to show there was somebody with al-Qaeda links carrying a bomb," she added.

"There is nothing, nothing, nothing at this time that suggests something is amiss."

US secretary of state Colin Powell, asked at a news conference on Wednesday if there was a single potential terrorist at large who was a source of grave concern, also said he was "not aware of any one particular individual who is loose".

In response to US concerns, France has been reinforcing its airline security, accepting airport inspections by US agents, cancelling the Christmas flights and announcing its readiness to post armed marshals aboard flights deemed at possible risk.

- AP