Britain ups terror level in line with US measures

[David]

AP


WASHINGTON (AFP) – Britain's decision to raise its terror alert level brings it in line with US measures announced "over the last few weeks," the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Friday.

"The UK is raising their measures to effectively where we are with the airport security measures that we have taken and announced over the last few weeks," said DHS spokesman Matthew Chandler.

"We have enhanced our security measures and communicated specific information to industry, law enforcement and the American people," he said.

Chandler's comments came after British Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced Britain had raised its terror threat level from substantial to severe, suggesting that an attack is "highly likely."

"The Joint Terrorism Analysis Center has today raised the threat to the UK from international terrorism from substantial to severe," Johnson said.

"This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest that an attack is imminent."

In a television statement shortly afterwards, Johnson refused to say whether the change in the threat level, which takes it to the fourth highest level out of five, was linked to the failed Detroit plane bombing on December 25.

But "that's the implication," said a US official, who requested anonymity.

[revwardoc]

http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-brita...0124-msjx.html

US, Britain on lookout for female bombers

NEW YORK: Al-Qaeda terrorist cells have trained female suicide bombers for attacks on Western targets, officials have warned.

The women, who may have a ''non-Arab'' appearance and travel on Western passports, have been prepared for missions by the Yemeni group responsible for the failed operation to blow up an airliner over the United States on Christmas Day.

Details of the bombers emerged hours after British spy chiefs raised Britain's threat state to ''severe'' amid fears that al-Qaeda was planning a series of attacks against Western targets. Experts within the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, a unit of MI5, believe that an attack against Britain is ''highly likely''.

US law enforcement agents were ordered to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers who may try to enter the country.

At least two are believed to be connected to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group which dispatched Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction on a transatlantic airliner over Detroit.

Richard Clarke, a former chief White House counter-terrorism adviser, said: ''They have trained women. There are others who are still out there who have been trained and who are cleanskins - that means people who we do not have a record of, people who may not look like al-Qaeda terrorists, who may not be Arabs and may not be men.''

Security sources said it was ''inevitable'' that al-Qaeda would use women of Western appearance for attacks. Although female suicide bombers have been used by al-Qaeda in Iraq and Palestinian groups in Israel, none is thought to ever have been used against European or US targets.

It also emerged that two male Arab nationals were not allowed to board planes from Heathrow Airport to America last week after their names appeared on a US ''no-fly list''.

The first incident occurred on January 16 when officials refused to allow an Egyptian man to fly on American Airlines flight 113 from Heathrow to Miami.

The following day a Saudi Arabian passenger was stopped from boarding United Airlines flight 929 to Chicago. Officials said the man was sent back to Saudi Arabia.

Both men were denied permission to board the flights after their names were ''flagged'' as linked to potential Islamist terrorist groups. Washington officials said the men were part of a growing number of people on its no-fly list who had recently attempted to board flights to, or in, the US.

In two other cases last week a man in Nairobi, Kenya, was kept off a flight that would have connected in Amsterdam with a flight to Dallas, and a passenger trying to fly to Los Angeles was stopped on the Caribbean island of St Maarten from boarding a connecting flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Mr Clarke told ABC News in the US: ''What we don't know is whether this is because everyone is doing a better job of enforcing the no-fly list, or because the list has been expanded, or because the terrorists are attempting to probe our security.''

[darrels joy]

Terror alert: Two men on 'no-fly' list stopped at Heathrow

By Vincent Moss 24/01/2010




Two men were stopped boarding US-bound planes at Heathrow days before Britain's terror threat was raised to "severe".

News of the incidents came hours after Home Secretary Alan Johnson lifted the threat level amid fears that al-Qaeda is planning an attack.

The new level, which means an attack is reckoned "highly likely", is second only to "critical".

Security sources say an Egyptian was stopped last Saturday as he tried to board an American Airlines flight to Miami. A man from Saudi Arabia was banned from boarding a United Airlines flight to Chicago the next day and sent back to Saudi.

The incidents and the raised threat level follow the failed Christmas Day bombing on a plane over Detroit.

Anti-terror officials said the past week had seen an "unusually high" number of people on their no-fly list trying to board US-bound planes.

Security is being tightened in Britain ahead of high-level meetings which will see world leaders including Hillary Clinton heading to Britain this week.

The US Secretary of State and other leading foreign ministers will be in London on Wednesday and Thursday for summits on Yemen - thought to be a terror haven - and Afghanistan.

Other potential terror targets at the meetings will be Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon.

In a separate move, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas is to give border police more powers to crack down on bogus students trying to enter Britain. Officials will be able to carry out detailed checks on whether they have enough in their bank accounts to fund their courses.

Part of Manchester Airport's Terminal 3 was evacuated after an Asian man in his 20s tried to take a white powder on to a plane bound for Heathrow.

He was not arrested.

Cameron's 'Immigration Con': Page 26

UK THREAT LEVELS
Critical: imminent attack expected
Severe (the current level): an attack is highly likely
Substantial: an attack is a strong possibility
Moderate: attack possible, but is not likely LOW: attack unlikely

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-21990980/