U.S. tightens security, seeks source of parcel bombs
by Jeremy Pelofsky and Phil Stewart
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.
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 has determined that they do
apparently contain explosive material,” Obama said at a press briefing
at the White House.
The New York Times reported that the packages contained PETN, the
same chemical explosive used in the bomb sewn into the underwear of the
Nigerian man who attempted to blow up an airliner over Detroit at
Christmas, a plot hatched in Yemen.
The newspaper cited Representative Jane Harman, a Democrat on the
House Homeland Security Committee, who was briefed by the Transportation
Security Administration.
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.The White House said “both
of these packages originated from Yemen” and Obama was informed of the
threat on Thursday.
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.
UPS and FedEx, the world’s largest cargo airline, said they were
halting shipments from Yemen.
UPS planes were searched and then cleared in New Jersey and
Philadelphia.
One U.S. official and some analysts speculated that the parcels may
have been a test of cargo screening procedures and the reaction of
security officials.
“This may be a trial run,” the U.S. official said.
The White House said Saudi Arabia helped identify the threat from
Yemen, while Britain and the United Arab Emirates also provided
information.
Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, would not say how the
United States learned of the plot. But he told reporters: “We were onto
this.
We were looking for packages that were of concern.”
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