US: Authorities evacuated a West Virginia airport terminal in the US yesterday after a test on two plastic containers carried by a woman passenger showed a possible explosive.
Officials in Britain investigating the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic aircraft originating from UK airports said a fundamentalist Islamic movement appeared to be a common link between several of the men arrested.
Tablighi Jamaat promotes an austere lifestyle in which followers must adhere strictly to a literal interpretation of the Koran, Islamic dress code and methods of religious practice.
But some western intelligence agencies believe the organisation, which proselytises within the Islamic faith by visiting mosques, is used by extremists as a fertile source for the recruitment of young men.
Following the West Virginia aircraft security alert, the second in the US in as many days, airport transportation security administration spokesman Christopher White said that about 100 passengers were evacuated from the terminal at Tri-State Airport in Huntington.
He said security checks identified four items containing liquids in a carry-on bag carried by a passenger."Two containers tested positive for explosive materials," Mr White said. "The TSA and FBI are currently on site conducting interviews and gathering information."
Last night in Britain it was being reported that police have found a suitcase containing components needed to make an explosive device. The discovery is thought to have been made in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, where specialist officers are combing King's Wood for traces of explosives or evidence of explosive tests. The BBC reported a police source as saying the suitcase contained "everything you would need to make an improvised device". Scotland Yard has refused to comment.
A Pakistan security official yesterday claimed that the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airlines had been sanctioned by Ayman al-Zawahri, the man described as the number two in al-Qaeda.
"We have reason to believe that it was al-Qaeda sanctioned and was probably cleared by al-Zawahri," a senior security official said. Pakistani authorities had suggested that the plan had been hatched slightly further down the supposed al-Qaeda chain of command.
Sections of the Muslim community in Britain believe a public inquiry is needed to flush out exactly which organisations are behind the radicalisation of young people. Investigators believe the July 7th suicide bombers, Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, attended the main Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in the north of England, where the organisation has its UK base.
Several men from east London and High Wycombe, who are among the suspects being held by anti-terrorist police at present, are known to have regularly attended religious study meetings and weekend camps run by Tablighi in east London.
They include suspects from Walthamstow, east London, one of whom is Waheed Zaman, a bio- medical student, and Assad Sarwar, of High Wycombe. The movement, formed in India, denies any links to terrorism.