WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) The United States searched on Saturday for the culprits behind a plot to bomb Jewish targets in Chicago uncovered by the interception in Britain and Dubai of parcels with explosives sent from Yemen.
U.S. President Barack Obama vowed on Friday that U.S. authorities would spare no effort to find the source of the packages, which he called a “credible terrorist threat” aimed at two places of Jewish worship.
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| Handout image shows a toner cartridge discovered aboard a cargo plane in East Midlands, north of London October 29, 2010. Security officials in Britain and Dubai intercepted parcel bombs being sent from Yemen to the United States (REUTERS) |
Obama said security would be increased for air travel for as long as necessary. U.S. officials said they were searching for more packages that could have come from Yemen, which has become a haven for some anti-American militants.
The security threat unsettled Americans just days before they vote in midterm congressional elections that have been dominated by economic woes rather than the issue of terrorism.
Suspicion fell on al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which operates out of Yemen and claimed responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a U.S. plane over Detroit on Christmas Day in 2009.The group is affiliated with al Qaeda, whose militants killed about 3,000 people using hijacked passenger jets in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
“Initial examinations of those packages have determined they do apparently contain explosive material,” Obama said at a press briefing at the White House.
The improvised devices contained computer printer cartridges filled with the explosive, but one used a cell phone as a detonator and the other had a timer, she told the Times.
U.S. law enforcement officials would not confirm the report, saying tests were still being done on the explosives.
One of the packages was found on a United Parcel Service cargo plane at East Midlands Airport, about 160 miles (260 km) north of London. The other was discovered at a FedEx Corp facility in Dubai. |
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