BA hit by more terror alerts

2004-01-03 14:21

London - As security fears disrupted British air travel for a third day running, reports emerged Saturday that a terror suspect had tried to board a British Airways flight to Washington before it was cancelled earlier this week.

British Airways expected to resume a normal service between London and Washington on Saturday after grounding BA flight 223 to Washington for two days running, amid reports of a "real and definite threat" of a September 11-style attack on the US capital.

The company however announced that it was grounding its Saturday afternoon flight to the Saudi capital Riyadh, which it had also cancelled on Wednesday, due to further security concerns.

Quoting an unnamed security source, BBC radio reported on Saturday that "an individual who is on a US list of terrorist suspects was trying to get on BA flight 223 to Washington when it was cancelled on Thursday".

But the suspect did not return to the airport on Friday, when the daily flight was cancelled for a second time, the source said. The BBC report did not specify whether the source was British or American.

US intelligence agents had "picked up a lot of coded talks indicating that Al-Qaeda had in interest in a particular flight", the report added, quoting Michael Mason, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Plot to hijack

The US television network ABC, quoting security sources, also reported that there had been a plot to hijack the British Airways flight and crash it into a US target.

Questioned by the BBC, British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling acknowledged only that the government had "specific information" which led it to ask British Airways to cancel the flights.

The London-Washington cancellation was believed to be the first to ground a US-bound British airliner for security reasons since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Washington and London have been on heightened alert throughout the Christmas and New Year period because of fears of a potential extremist attack, possibly an attempt by Al-Qaeda to repeat the September 11 suicide plane attacks.

On New Year's Eve, BA Flight 223 was escorted into Dulles airport by two US fighter jets and its passengers questioned by FBI agents for several hours upon their arrival. - AFP

- SAPA