US probes terrorist threat

2003-12-24 21:20

Los Angeles - US authorities are investigating a threat to Air France jets scheduled to head to Los Angeles that prompted the cancellation of three flights from Paris on Wednesday, law enforcement sources said.

But while officials in Los Angeles said the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the department of homeland security were probing an unspecified threat, they refused to divulge any specifics details.

"We are taking all reports of any threats very seriously as we are facing the most significant threat we have had since September 11, 2001 and are reacting accordingly," a source said.

"We are doing the groundwork appropriate to at least head off some additional attacks," the official said of the "elevated" terror alert footing that was imposed on the United States on Sunday.

French authorities said they cancelled the three Air France flights to Los Angeles after the US embassy in Paris warned it feared they might be used for possible al-Qaeda attacks.

Interior ministry officials said the order was given after a top-level ministerial meeting was called to consider the embassy alert.

In Los Angeles, officials said the city's airport was experiencing its tightest security clampdown since 9/11 in a bid to thwart any attacks.

The second largest US city's main airport, LAX, was targeted for a Millennium terror attack by Islamic terrorists almost exactly four years ago.

"These are the tightest security measures we have implemented since the September 11 attacks," said LAX airport spokesperson Harold Johnson.

The measures were put in place after the US government on Sunday raised the country's terror-alert level from yellow to orange, indicating a heightened threat.

- AFP