Security heightened in Nepal's only international airport

KATHMANDU, Aug 12, 2006 (AFP)

Nepal Saturday banned passengers using the country's lone international airport from carrying liquids in hand baggage following a foiled plot to blow up airplanes leaving Britain for the United States.

"As part of precautionary measures, security at Tribhuvan International Airport has been put on high alert," said police superintendent Prakash Kunwar.

"Passengers have been barred from carrying aerosols, gels, mouthwash, toothpaste, perfumes, liquid soaps, shaving creams and other forms of liquids in hand luggage," he said.

International airlines fly from Tribhuvan International in Kathmandu to 12 countries, Kanwar said.

The security was stepped up after British police said Thursday they foiled a plot to smuggle liquids in hand baggage onto planes bound for the United States from London's Heathrow Airport that would be made into bombs.

Kanwar said Nepal authorities were "strictly monitoring Delhi-bound flights as India has raised security at its major airports".

India on Friday announced stringent security measures at five key airports in the country after Britain said it had uncovered the plan to blow up flights and US warnings Friday of possible Al-Qaeda attacks in India.

The US embassy in New Delhi said militants may be planning a series of blasts in the run-up to India's Independence Day next Tuesday, but the Indian government dismissed the threat as "innocuous".

The Indian security measures included a ban on passengers taking liquids onto flights.

Security has remained tight at Nepal's international airport since an Indian Airlines flight flying from Kathmandu was hijacked to the southern Afghan city of Kandahar in 1999. The Indian government freed three Islamic militants in exchange for hostages aboard the plane to end the hijacking.