This is news? I thought everyone knew that Al-Qaeda would be targeting airliners since, oh, around September 11, 2001. From AP: CAIRO, Egypt – An Internet statement signed by an al-Qaida cell in Saudi Arabia warned Monday that the terror network will target Western airlines, military bases and residential compounds and told Muslims to stay […]
L.A.-Dulles flight seen as terror target
Flying the unfriendly skies From the Washington Times, : Federal officials have pinpointed an airline flight from Los Angeles to Washington as a potential terrorist target in the past two weeks and have begun scrutinizing the flight crew’s luggage and using security agents to follow pilots preparing for the flight. Bomb-sniffing dogs are also being […]
Al-Qaeda Targets London’s Heathrow Airport
From Bloomberg.com, : Osama bin Laden ordered a strike on London’s Heathrow airport months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., the Sunday Times reported, citing transcripts of interrogations of an al-Qaeda operations chief. Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist network, wanted to punish U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, and considered him his […]
London airport worker jailed for links with al-Qaeda
From The Observer, with thanks to Twostellas: A British Muslim linked to the group suspected of carrying out the Madrid and Casablanca bombings worked at Heathrow airport as a manager for an international air company, an Observer investigation can reveal. Abdulatif Merroun, 42, who was jailed for five years in Morocco last year for his […]
C.I.A. was given data on 9/11 hijacker in 1999
The CIA had a chance in 1999 — and blew it. From the New York Times: American investigators were given the first name and telephone number of one of the Sept. 11 hijackers two and a half years before the attacks on New York and Washington, but the United States appears to have failed to […]
Terrorist bid to build bombs in mid-flight
A new strategy. From The Observer, : Islamic militants have conducted dry runs of a devastating new style of bombing on aircraft flying to Europe, intelligence sources believe. The tactics, which aim to evade aviation security systems by placing only components of explosive devices on passenger jets, allowing militants to assemble them in the air, […]
Man evaded LA airport security; found without ticket or ID in plane bathroom
This is not a story about a jihad incident. But it is one about how much airport security has improved since 9/11. From AP: A man walked past two security checkpoints at Los Angeles International Airport last month and boarded a plane without a ticket or identification before he was caught hiding inside a bathroom […]
Terror alert is over the top, say sceptics
Unfortunately, this is the kind of debate that can’t be conclusively settled except by catching the terrorists red-handed, or by a successful terrorist attack. This from The Advertiser (Australia), with thanks to Jean-Luc: BRITISH pilots and security experts have accused US intelligence chiefs of “jumping at shadows” as terror alerts grounded more flights yesterday. British […]
Airline Cancels Washington-Houston Flight
After six transatlantic flights were canceled the other day, now it’s a domestic flight. This from AP: Continental Airlines canceled a Sunday evening flight from Washington to Houston after security concerns were raised by the Homeland Security Department. Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Flight 1519 was canceled “due to security concerns and threat reporting about […]
Seven Flights from Europe to U.S. Canceled
Seven more flights have just been grounded. Could this be connected with threats made by terrorists some time ago to mount a major attack around the time of the Hajj? This from Fox News: Just one day after U.S. officials expressed renewed security concerns over flights from London and Paris bound for the U.S., British […]