Relax - Why flight bomb risk remains high

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[Photo Above : Found Guilty: (From left) Britons Abdulla Ahmed Ali,Tanvir Hussain and Assad Sarwar planned to blow up transatlantic flights with liquid bombs.]

IS AIR travel any safer from militant attacks, three years after a group of men tried to blow up transatlantic airliners using liquid explosives?

For many analysts, the balance of risk looks little changed: While the industry has tightened security, attackers continue to innovate, and transport systems remain a target of choice.

Some take a darker view, arguing that a post-2006 toughening of security has been clumsy, producing longer queues at checkpoints that offer attackers a bigger on-ground target.

Others complain that security improvements have been stymied by red tape.

"Yes, we are safer, because this plot brought liquid explosives to the attention of regulators and led to new regulations," said Mr Omer Laviv of Israel's Athena GS3, which works with European firms on aviation counter-terrorism.

"But how many other plots are there that regulators may not be aware of?"

Three Britons were found guilty on Monday of plotting to kill thousands by blowing up North America-bound airliners in mid-flight suicide attacks with bombs made of liquid explosives.

The suspected Al-Qaeda plot, just days away from being put into operation according to British detectives, had huge worldwide ramifications, leading to tight restrictions on the amount of liquids passengers could take on board aircraft.

It was a reminder that Al-Qaeda plots attacks not just for shock and fear but to kill large numbers of people, as it did in the Sept 11, 2001 suicide hijackings in which 2,992 people died.

"We are still at risk," said security and aviation analyst Chris Yates, noting there is still no widely available system installed at international airports to detect explosives in liquid form, although several technologies are in trials.

Nor is there a widely-deployed technology to routinely guard against a bomber with explosives hidden in a body cavity
– a technique Al-Qaeda used only last month in Saudi Arabia.
In that case, a suicide bomber on Aug 27 blew himself up in the Jeddah office of the kingdom's security chief, Prince Mohammed Nayef, a member of the Saudi royal family.

Prince Mohammed was not seriously hurt.

But the attack revealed Al-Qaeda to be as innovative as ever: official Saudi media said the explosives were implanted in the bomber's body.

Alriyadh newspaper said they were hidden in his anal cavity.

Mr Scott Stewart of intelligence company Stratfor said such a technique would likely have "a catastrophic result if employed on an aircraft,especially if it were removed from the bomber's body and placed in a strategic location on board the aircraft".

Other novelties since 2006 include so-called swarm attacks by suicide gunmen who have struck hotels and other targets in Asia using automatic rifles and hand grenades in the past 12 months, including the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

"Terrorists will innovate to get around airport security," said Mr David Claridge of Janusian security consultants, who pointed to a lack of common standards among aviation authorities around the world as a continuing vulnerability.

The International Air Transport Association, which represents 230 airlines, says aviation security has improved since the 9/11 attacks on United States targets, but its website notes that lack of global standards "has created an uncoordinated mess".

– REUTERS

Why flight bomb risk remains high

By William Maclean, Reuters | Wed, Sep 9 2009

Some complain that security improvements have been stymied by red tape.

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