Dos paquetes en los aviones de UPS y Fedex fueron interceptados y examinados en los aeropuertos de Newark y Philadelphia. Aparte un camion en NY. No se encontraron explosivos.
La Casa Blanca califico el incidente como una amenaza potencial de un ataque terrorista.
Suspicious Packages on Cargo Planes Intercepted
By ADAM ENTOUS And EVAN PEREZ
A United Parcel Service jet is seen isolated on a runway at Philadelphia International Airport Oct. 29.
.WASHINGTON—Authorities intercepted two U.S.-bound suspicious packages in cargo shipments from Yemen, raising alarm in the U.S. and Europe at a time when counterterrorism officials say they are closely tracking multiple suspected terror plots by al Qaeda and its affiliates.
The discovery of the packages on UPS and FedEx cargo planes in the U.K. and Dubai prompted U.S. officials to conduct wider screening for potential bombs in airports in Newark and Philadelphia and in a delivery truck in New York City. No explosives were found.
The White House characterized the incident as a potential terrorist threat, and officials said they believed the packages, which had the appearances of improvised bombs, may have been deliberately placed on the planes to test security systems as a possible dry run or diversionary tactic for a planned attack.
The incidents come as U.S. and European authorities are seeking to unravel what counterterrorism officials described as an alarming escalation in attack planning by al Qaeda's affiliates in Pakistan and Yemen against civilian targets mainly in Western Europe.
Officials said intelligence and law-enforcement authorities in recent days have stepped up coordinated manhunts in Europe for individuals believed to be connected to a suspected plot to launch commando-style shooting attacks on unprotected targets in the U.K., France or Germany.
That scheme is believed to be styled on the armed commando attacks that killed more than 160 people in Mumbai, India, in 2008, but U.S. officials said intelligence suggested "multiple" plots may be underway simultaneously by different al Qaeda affiliates. Officials said they were looking at any possible connections between those plots and the suspicious packages found aboard the cargo planes bound for the U.S.
The Yemeni government said it has launched a full scale investigation into the suspicious packages. "We are working closely with international partners—including the U.S.—on the incident," a statement issued by the Yemeni embassy in Washington said.
The package was discovered on a United Parcel Service jet, which had stopped to refuel at East Midlands Airport in Derby while flying from Yemen to Chicago. Video courtesy of Fox News.
.The first package was discovered at a cargo-distribution center at East Midlands Airport, about 115 miles northwest of London, according to local police. The package, which originated in a United Parcel Service, Inc. shipment from Yemen, was found during routine screening at 3:28 a.m. local time. U.S. officials said the package had protruding wires that appeared to resemble a bomb, but initial tests found no explosives.
Also overnight, FedEx Corp. said authorities confiscated a second suspicious package originating in Yemen at a FedEx package facility in Dubai. FedEx said it has embargoed all shipments originating from Yemen.
A United Arab Emirates official said that the package intercepted in Dubai had "all the components" of a bomb. "It looks like the real thing," the official said.
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Reuters
A forensic officer removes a package from a UPS container at East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington, central England Oct. 29.
.President Barack Obama was alerted Thursday night about the suspicious packages and directed U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to take additional safety steps and determine whether the threats are a part of any additional terrorist plotting, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
The Associated Press reported the two packages were addressed to Chicago religious sites, Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice said. Both were sent from the same address in Yemen to Jewish organizations in Chicago, U.S. officials said.
Mr. Obama is due to make a statement at 4:15 EST Friday.
Over the last two months the Central Intelligence Agency has intensified drone strikes against militants in safe havens in Pakistan near the Afghan border, killing dozens of suspected militants, including a terrorist suspect from Germany who was in contact with 9/11 collaborators just days before the 2001.
Washington believes such counter-terrorism operations are having an impact on militant groups believed to be involved in the plots. But officials said the strikes do not appear to have disrupted the plots that are underway, citing concerns some militant operatives may already be in place in Europe and have evaded authorities there, U.S. and European officials say.
Long before Friday's events, international cargo shipments were considered a particularly weak links in U.S. anti-terrorist safeguards. Lawmakers for years have stressed the importance of speeding up cargo screening for explosives, but much of the emphasis has focused on material loaded into passenger rather than cargo planes.
The U.K. Home Office said the suspicious package discovered at the East Midlands Airport was still being examined. For security reasons, direct flights from Yemen to the U.K. had already been suspended. U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May said there was currently nothing to suggest that any location in the U.K. was being targeted.
Early on Friday, U.S. law enforcement authorities searched two UPS aircraft in Philadelphia and one in Newark. In New York City, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said authorities confiscated an envelope that originated in Yemen and was delivered to a J.P. Morgan Chase bank branch in Brooklyn. Nothing suspicious was found.
A bomb scare shut down several blocks of San Francisco's busy downtown area on Friday morning after a suspicious suitcase was discovered on a street.
The San Francisco bomb squad was called to investigate the Market Street thoroughfare where the suitcase was found. Police then closed Market Street, one of the city's busiest thoroughfares, from near the Embarcadero waterfront all the way to the busy Union Square shopping district just as late commuters arrived for work.
Police established a multi-block perimeter to check the suitcase, dispatching bomb sniffing dogs to ensure no other suspicious packages were around. A police officer said the SFPD had set up a command center in preparation for a possible disaster. After nearly two hours of investigating the package, however, the police said the bomb scare was a false alarm and streets were later reopened.
U.S. officials said two military fighter jets on Friday afternoon were escorting a commercial airliner from the Canadian border to New York City, according to reports from the Associated Press and CNN. The plane is believed to be carrying cargo from Yemen.
It landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport at 3:35 p.m. EDT, according to television reports.
The officials said there is no known threat associated with the plane. But the North American Aerospace Defense Command—responsible for scrambling military aircraft in such situations—said the aircraft was being escorted to JFK as in an "abundance of caution," CNN reported.
CNN said the flight was operated by Emirates, the flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates, and had originated from Yemen's capital, San'a, with a stop in Dubai.