More threats of air terror

WASHINGTON - Weapons that can be concealed in small electronic items and smuggled on to aircraft are expected to prompt a new security advisory in the United States today.

The advisory, from the Deparment of Homeland Security, will alert airlines, airport screeners and law enforcement officials to an array of electronic devices that could be altered for potential use as weapons, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity.



NBC news reported that the move followed the discovery of apparent prototype weapons found in an al Qaeda safe house overseas and the interrogation of a captured high-ranking al Qaeda operative.

According to the report, al Qaeda considered trying to hide explosives in cellphones and common electronic devices such as radio "boomboxes".

Officials said that among the prototype weapons found were camera flash units modified to hide stun guns or hold explosives, NBC reported.

Security officials said there was no indication that any of the items had been carried on planes and added they knew of no plots to use them.

The new alert is built on a Homeland Security advisory issued last month warning that al Qaeda may be planning another attack.

A CIA technical analysis of an audiotape broadcast over the weekend has determined it was "likely" the voice of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No 2 in al Qaeda after Osama bin Laden, a CIA official said yesterday.

The voice on the tape warned the US that it would pay a high price if it harmed any of the detainees it is holding at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

"America has announced it will start putting on trial in front of military tribunals the Muslim detainees at Guantanamo and might sentence them to death ... I swear in the name of God that the crusader America will pay a dear price for any harm it inflicts on any of the Muslim detainees ... "

US intelligence agencies believe Zawahiri and bin Laden are alive and hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A US intelligence official said the release of the Zawahiri audio tape was probably aimed at showing al Qaeda members that their leaders were still alive, in charge and a threat to the US.

"They're trying to maintain their appearance, and that's what a tape like this is mainly designed to do - to reassure the faithful that 'yes your leadership is still around, still engaged and still determined to fight the fight'," said the official on condition of anonymity.

"It's just a showing of the flag."

- REUTERS