LONDON // Airports across the United States and United Kingdom are on high alert.
Security has been stepped up amid fears that Islamist groups are developing a new generation of hard-to-detect “stealth” bombs that could evade existing scans and slip onto planes undetected.
Airports in the Middle East, Africa and Europe that have direct flights to the US have been asked to implement enhanced security checks in the coming days, US homeland security secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement on Tuesday. He did not cite evidence of any specific plot.
Britain confirmed it was bolstering security at its airports in response.
Travellers will probably have to endure “another layer” of security for some time, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on London’s LBC Radio, adding: “I don’t think we should expect this to be a one off temporary thing.”
Belgian’s interior minister Joelle Milquet, whose country is also stepping up airport security, told RTL-TVI the measures would focus on electronic equipment such as tablets, computers and mobile phones “to make sure there are no explosives”.
The new checks focusing on electronic items fuel fears that extremists such as Al Qaeda could use them as their latest tactic in a long campaign of attacks involving aircraft.
There is heightened scrutiny as the spiralling conflict in the Middle East prompts an increased flow of western jihadists, fanning fears that hundreds of Islamist radicals travelling from Europe to fight in the Middle East could pose a security risk on their return.
On Sunday, US President Barack Obama warned that “battle-hardened” Europeans who embrace jihad in Syria and Iraq threaten the United States because their passports mean they can enter without a visa.
The airports concerned are located in the Middle East and Europe and were targeted “based on real-time intelligence”, according to an official at the US Department of Homeland Security who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Analysts said the move was likely linked to concerns that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was passing on bombmaking expertise to militants fighting in Syria.
The fear is that militants with European passports could then bring these skills back home with them and launch an attack, experts say.
Brooke Rogers of the War Studies Department at King’s College London said that for extremist groups, bringing down an aircraft was the “ultimate prize – if the attackers succeed, it will be spectacular for them”.
The terror alert in Uganda further rattled nerves but it was not immediately clear if it was linked to the airport security boost.
Although the US embassy did not name any group, Al Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents have claimed attacks in neighbouring Kenya, including the Westgate mall bloodbath, and Djibouti, as well as at home in Somalia.
Despite the increased checks, Britain said the international terror threat level issued by security service MI5 remained unchanged at substantial, the third highest grade out of five, where it has been since July 2011.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain was taking a “safety first” approach.
“This is something we’ve discussed with the Americans and what we have done is put in place some extra precautions and extra checks,” he said.
“The safety of the travelling public must come first – we mustn’t take any risks.”
His Downing Street office said there was an “evolving threat” but did not give further details.
The measures threaten disruptions for passengers at the start of the summer holiday season.
But officials insist passengers should not face significant delays and London’s Heathrow airport – one of the world’s busiest international air hubs – and Gatwick, south of the capital, were both operating normally on Thursday.
* Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg