Sanaa/Dubai: Yemeni forces searched on Saturday for suspected al-Qaeda militants behind a plot to bomb Jewish targets in Chicago, uncovered by the interception in Britain and Dubai of parcels with explosives sent from Yemen.
US President Barack Obama addressed the nation on Friday, saying US authorities would spare no effort to find the source of the packages which he called a "credible terrorist threat" aimed at two places of Jewish worship.
One parcel intercepted in Dubai contained a bomb hidden in a printer which bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaeda, said Dubai police whose experts defused the device. British forensic experts were examining the other parcel on Saturday.
"The parcel was prepared in a professional way where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer," a Dubai police statement said.
The plot originating in Yemen will further heighten security concerns about the unstable Arab state, seen by the West as the home of al-Qaeda's most inventive and audacious affiliate.
Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and one of its leading figures, US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlak, have been priority US targets since it took responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a US jet on Christmas Day last year.
Dubai police said they found pentaerythritol trinitrate in a printer and cartridge, the same chemical explosive used in the bomb sewn into the underwear of a Nigerian man who has been charged with attempting to blow up the airliner last Christmas.
There was no immediate claim or responsibility for the parcels but US officials suspect AQAP which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, whose militants killed 3,000 people using hijacked airliners in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States
The White House said Saudi Arabia had helped to identify the threat from Yemen while Britain and the United Arab Emirates also provided information.
Checkpoints in Sanaa
Yemeni security forces set up checkpoints across Sanaa on Saturday, searching vehicles and carrying out identity checks, in the hunt for the militants.
Dozens of heavily armed police and military forces were scattered across the Yemeni capital, including the diplomatic quarter and the large ring road around the city, stopping cars and questioning passengers, a Reuters witness said.
Yemen had also stepped up security at its air and seaports, a security official told Reuters.
Obama said security would be increased for American air travel for as long as necessary. US officials said they were searching for more packages that could have come from Yemen.
Obama's counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said: "We were onto this. We were looking for packages that were of concern."
Of the plotters, Brennan said: "Clearly they are looking to identify vulnerabilities in our system. We've been able to stay ahead of them."
US officials and intelligence analysts say al-Qaeda is increasingly drawn to low-investment, high-impact attacks that require less communication and, in turn, are harder for intelligence agencies to detect.
They also generate a tremendous amount of attention, even when unsuccessful -- this time just ahead of heated US congressional elections on Tuesday.
"There are indications that al-Qaeda and its affiliates are growing less attached to the kinds of spectacular attacks they once seemed to prefer," a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The package scare caused broad disruptions on Friday, with the US scrambling fighter jets to accompany a passenger jet and mobilising explosive experts to search cargo planes.
One of the packages was found on a United Parcel Service cargo plane at East Midlands Airport, about 160 miles (260 km) north of London. The other was discovered at a FedEx Corp facility in Dubai.
Senior British officials were meeting to discuss the bombs on Saturday.
"We are reviewing the security measures for air freight from Yemen and are in discussion with industry contacts," British interior minister Theresa May said.
UPS and FedEx, the world's largest cargo airline, said they were halting shipments from Yemen. UPS planes were searched and then cleared in New Jersey and Philadelphia.
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