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War on terror 'may last 50 years'
The campaign against terrorism might last half a century, according to the Chief of the Defence Staff. Admiral Sir Michael Boyce compared it to a new Cold War and said the conflict in Afghanistan was the most difficult Britain had faced since the Korean War in the 1950s. He said the war against communism had taken 50 years of constant pressure during which time the West "did not blink".
Echoing Sir Michael's views, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, who is with British troops in Oman, said no-one was in any doubt about the difficulty of the operation in Afghanistan. He said: "I don't think it's possible to put a timetable on this. "It could be that the Taleban's fanaticism takes them through to the New Year. "But it could equally be that as a result of the sustained pressure that's being brought to bear on them that they collapse overnight."
Sir Michael said the initial campaign in Afghanistan could last three to four years.
27 October, 2001, BBC Online
Bomb attack on councillor's home
An SDLP councillor and his family have escaped injury in a pipe bomb attack in Londonderry.
Gerad Diver, his wife and four children were in their home at Sutton Gardens in the Waterside area when the device exploded shortly before midnight on Thursday.
The front door was blown in and shrapnel damage was caused to the inside of the house. There was also damage to the ceiling and walls of the hallway of the house.
26 October, 2001, BBC Online
Law enforcement officials have been investigating an anthrax alert at the New York Times after a suspicious letter with a Glasgow postmark was discovered.
The letter contained a white powdery substance and its discovery on Tuesday led to the evacuation of the newspaper's mail room. Tests were being carried out to establish if the letter did actually originate in Glasgow and if it contained anthrax.
The New York Times Company said an employee had opened the envelope. The worker and a colleague who was also in the mail room would be tested for possible exposure to the anthrax bacterium.
The company said: "This morning at approximately 8.30, a New York Times mailroom employee opened an envelope that contained a white powdery substance. "The company's mailroom has been closed. The employee and one other mailroom worker who was in the immediate area will be tested for exposure to anthrax."
Authorities have begun testing the substance. The envelope had no return address and was postmarked from Glasgow, Scotland.
If the letter was posted in Glasgow it could have passed through the city's largest sorting office at Springburn. However, a Royal Mail spokesman said there was no confirmation that the item had originated in Scotland.
Steve Stewart said in the meantime staff were being vigilant. "We have to take every single potential incident seriously, but it is also important to bear in mind that all of the suspect package incidents that happened in the UK have been established as false alarms following investigation," he said.
24 October, 2001, BBC Online
White House post room hit by anthrax
Anthrax has been found at an office which handles post for the White House.
The news came as it was confirmed that the disease caused the death of two postal workers in Washington DC. However, a presidential spokesman confirmed that anthrax had not reached the White House itself, and President George Bush said he did not have the disease.
US law enforcement officials have said there is so far no evidence linking the 12 confirmed anthrax cases with foreign terrorists, although suspicion is focused on Osama Bin Laden in the wake of the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
The anthrax at the White House mail office was found on a mail slitter, spokesman Ari Fleischer told a briefing, adding that staff at the facility were now being "swabbed and tested".
To fight the anthrax threat nationwide, US postal authorities have launched a $1bn security operation, which includes machines to bombard mail with radiation.
The latest deaths bring the number of people killed by the spate of anthrax attacks in America to three. The death of the postal workers has shown that an envelope containing anthrax may not need to be opened to kill. This has caused widespread alarm as it is not known how many people may have handled the envelope along its journey from Trenton, New Jersey, to Washington.
24 October, 2001, BBC Online
The scale of the bioterrorism threat to America grew on Tuesday when anthrax was confirmed as the cause of death of two postal workers in Washington DC and anthrax spores were found at a White House postal facility.
"We now know that the two deaths that were reported to you... are confirmed cases of inhalation anthrax," Washington's Mayor Anthony Williams said.
One of the men died on Monday at a hospital in Clinton, Maryland, while the other died on Sunday at a Washington hospital. The workers had been based at the post office that sorted mail for the US Congress and handled the letter containing anthrax which was sent to Senator Tom Daschle.
Two other workers at the post office, in the Brentwood area of the city, have also developed inhaled anthrax infections - the most deadly type of the disease - and are seriously ill. A female postal worker at the New Jersey office where the contaminated letter was postmarked is also seriously ill with suspected inhaled anthrax.
US law enforcement officials have said there is so far no evidence linking the 12 confirmed anthrax cases with foreign terrorists, although suspicion is focused on Osama Bin Laden in the wake of the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
23 October, 2001, BBC Online
Bomb damages Corsica newspaper offices
A bomb has exploded outside the offices of Corsica's only daily newspaper, Corse-Matin, causing heavy damage to the building.
There were no casualties in the overnight explosion. It's not known who carried out the attack.
The island has seen more than a quarter of a century of intermittent separatist violence by groups opposed to French rule. A recent attempt to grant Corsica limited autonomy collapsed after one of the main nationalist parties withdrew from the negotiations.
22 October, 2001, BBC Online
Fresh violence kills 30 in Colombia
A wave of bomb attacks and shootings by rebel guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia has left at least 30 people dead and 15 injured.
The first blast - blamed on a left-wing guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army - destroyed a building in the town of Peņol, 350km (220 miles) north-west of the capital Bogota, killing a policeman, his wife and child and two other civilians.
The second attack - blamed on the main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) - destroyed an underground gas pipeline in the north-eastern department of Guajira, killing at least four people in a nearby building that was enveloped in flames.
The latest violence comes amid growing tension between government and rebel negotiators seeking to restart the stalled peace process. The government has rejected demands by the FARC as conditions for reopening talks.
21 October, 2001, BBC Online
US abortion clinics in anthrax scare
Almost 150 US abortion clinics have been sent packages containing white powder and threatening letters in an anthrax scare.
Planned Parenthood - a family planning organisation which provides abortions - and abortion clinics across America received the mail. Initial tests on a letter sent to a Florida clinic affiliated to Planned Parenthood had tested positive for anthrax in preliminary tests. But further tests on that letter and 19 others have proved negative.
Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), said: "It is perverse that these individuals here at home, who are themselves terrorists by virtue of their actions, would seek to capitalise on the events of the last days and weeks to further their own extremist agenda." She said even if the letters were a hoax, these were "intolerable acts of terror", and called for every effort to be made to apprehend the perpetrators.
Planned Parenthood said some of the letters included messages from the Army of God, a hard-line anti-abortion group. These envelopes had a pre-printed return address for the US Marshall's Office and the Secret Service. Some had an embossed message that said "Time sensitive - urgent security notice - open immediately".
Ann Glazier, security director for the PPFA, told the Boston Globe newspaper the organisation was used to receiving letters purporting to contain anthrax. The organisation received 26 such letters in 1998 and 18 letters in 1999 purporting to be laced with anthrax.
Employees in Planned Parenthood offices who open mail have security procedures, such as wearing rubber gloves. Jennifer Vriens, director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center for Women in Philadelphia, told US National Public Radio's 'Morning Edition': "When the mail came, I put on latex gloves and took the mail to an empty room and gingerly went through the mail and found, indeed, one of these letters that we were warned we might receive. "I isolated the letter, I put it in a bag and called 911."
She added: "All clinics across the country have all sorts of protocols related to bomb threats, phone threats, mail threats, physical threats ... we have protocols for all of these types of potential events."
19 October, 2001, BBC Online
Explosives found in US bus station
There has been a major scare at a bus station in the US city of Philadelphia after the discovery of a suitcase containing plastic explosives.
Employees of the city's Greyhound terminal found the suitcase while looking through unclaimed luggage. The suitcase contained 150g of C-4 military grade explosives, about the size of a bar of soap, which police said was enough to blow up the whole terminal. "That's a lot of punch," Lieutenant Tom Fitzpatrick of the city's bomb squad the Associated Press. "We would have been looking for a new bus terminal."
But police said that there was no danger of an explosion as no detonation cap had been attached to the explosives.
Police are checking for clues as to who left the suitcase, but so far have no idea where it came from or why it was put in the terminal. BBC Washington correspondent Tom Carver says the C-4 explosives found would be familiar to Islamic militants of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Such explosives are produced in several countries and are not hard to get hold of.
Though there is no clear connection with the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington and the recent cases of anthrax, correspondents say the incident will make a nervous American public even more jumpy.
19 October, 2001, BBC Online
Anthrax alert causes postal chaos
Postal deliveries across the West Midlands are in chaos after another anthrax scare closed Birmingham's main Royal Mail sorting office.
Hundreds of workers were evacuated after a suspect letter addressed to Prime Minister Tony Blair was found - the latest in a series of bio-terror scares across the UK.
Home Secretary David Blunkett is looking at increasing the maximum penalty for hoaxers from six months to seven years - putting them on the same level as bomb hoaxers - to prevent further disruption. Britain's emergency services have been issued with new guidelines on how to cope with an anthrax attack, but the public has been urged to stay calm.
As the anthrax scare gripping America continued to cause disruption in Britain, Mr Blunkett said: "Hoaxes cause considerable upset and disruption as well as wasting the valuable time of police and emergency services time. "These are malicious and criminal acts and anyone sending hoax packages or misleading the police will be prosecuted and may face imprisonment."
Updated advice Britain's emergency services have been issued with new guidelines on how to cope with threats from conventional, nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. There were also alerts at postal sorting offices in Preston and Bradford, on Tuesday.
Other locations hit by false alarms include the Bush House, in London, the London Stock Exchange, Canterbury Cathedral and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency headquarters in Swansea.
18 October, 2001, BBC Online
Letter threats were 'cruel hoax'
Police have confirmed that a suspect package sent to St Andrews University was a "cruel hoax".
The parcel was one of six sent to locations in Fife, including the area's police headquarters in Glenrothes. White powder was found in A5-sized packages which also contained letters warning of the anthrax bacterium. Test have now been completed on two of the six parcels which were received on Tuesday.
Fife Constabulary said that the packets delivered to St Andrews University and the police headquarters had both proven negative for anthrax. "Further tests will be carried out on these substances to establish their make-up but we are now convinced that these incidents were part of an elaborate but cruel hoax," said Assistant Chief Constable David Mellor. He said it was expected that tests on the other four parcels would also prove to be negative.
"It is now a question of business as usual with restrictions being lifted at all the venues involved," he said. "But clearly everyone should remain firmly on their guard, reporting immediately any suspicions they might have on receipt of any unusual packages via the mail or other means. "Proper caution is always recommended and vigilance, the most important precaution which can ever be deployed to deal with this type of situation, is vitally important."
Meanwhile, Lothian and Borders Police are still analysing a suspicious package which was sent to The Scotsman newspaper offices in Edinburgh. Nine members of staff were taken to hospital and given antibiotics as a precaution following the incident on Tuesday. A suspect package was also taken away for examination in central Scotland on Tuesday.
17 October, 2001, BBC Online
Five people have been taken to hospital after white powder was discovered at Liverpool's main mail sorting office. The building was evacuated when the substance was spotted leaking from an item of mail thought to be a small package. The suspect substance is being analysed in a laboratory.
A Merseyside Police press officer said: "We still do not know the contents of the package but can confirm it does not contain any explosives." Postal workers seemed concerned but calm following the security alert. "I think it's inevitable really, with what you're hearing in the media," said one man.
16 October, 2001, BBC Online
The public have been warned to be on their guard against the threat from anthrax following a series of incidents in the United States.
The Home Office said there was no intelligence to suggest there was a "specific threat" to Britain from biological or chemical attack. But a Scotland Yard spokeswoman urged people to be "vigilant".
On Tuesday morning a sorting office in Liverpool was evacuated after white powder fell out of a package. The substance is being tested. City of London Police are also checking a suspicious package at the Stock Exchange.
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "If people are suspicious of anything they have received in the mail or by hand they should contact police. "The police will advise and them. We have asked people to be vigilant."
Meanwhile the government is stockpiling antibiotics to treat anthrax as it prepares to reveal its contingency plans for tackling bioterrorism. Later this week guidelines drawn up by the Department of Health and the Home Office are to be sent to the NHS and local authorities advising them what to do in the event of an anthrax attack .
A baby boy and a 73-year-old man are the latest to be infected with anthrax in the US. Packages have been sent to two media groups, one in Florida and one in New York, and to a leading senator in Washington DC.
Three people have been tested in Britain, after working in the US buildings where spores were detected. They are still awaiting results.
Postal workers are in the frontline and Dave Joyce, chairman of the health safety committee of the Communication Workers' Union, said officials were trying to avoid panic within the Royal Mail. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Members are being briefed and given adequate information and instruction as to the risk posed by anthrax, and what they should do if a suspect package is encountered... or possibly broken open by accident."
The Public Health Laboratory Service has already updated its advice on how to deal with a deliberate attempt to spread anthrax. Guidance includes the importance of sealing off what the PHLS calls "the exposed zone" if anthrax spores are found and decontaminating everyone present. Any infected people would need to take antibiotics for up to eight weeks.
16 October, 2001, BBC Online
Confirmed cases of anthrax in the United States have sparked panic across an already jittery world, and encouraged hoaxers to make the most of mounting insecurity.
From Brussels to Bangkok, citizens have been warned to look out for suspicious packages or envelopes possibly containing the deadly substance, which has already claimed one life in the United States. On Monday, the scare spread into the upper political echelons when a letter opened in the office of US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was discovered to contain anthrax.
German authorities meanwhile were testing a white powder found in the office post room of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who has wholeheartedly backed the US strikes on Afghanistan. But officials say they are expecting a false alarm. In France, police evacuated hundreds of people and sent dozens off for medical tests after suspect powder was sent to addresses which included the French Space Agency and the College de France, a research institute. In Switzerland, an employee at the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis is receiving precautionary medical treatment after he received a "suspicious letter" containing an unidentified powder.
There have also been other scares within the Americas. The Argentine news agency Telam reported that at least a dozen people were hospitalised with eye irritation and respiratory complaints when white powder was found during the counting at polling stations in Buenos Aires province. And in Canada, a section of the parliament building was evacuated and 35 employees rushed to a decontamination unit after an envelope containing powder was found.
But it appears that white powder has been providing hoaxers with ample opportunity for bluffs. In Australia, more than a dozen buildings - including US and British consulates - were evacuated in scares which now appear to be hoaxes. Two dozen people underwent decontamination. China has ordered new quarantine checks on suspicious mail from abroad At the Vienna international airport in Austria there was another false alarm when a powder was discovered at an information desk. The terminal was evacuated while the substance was analysed in a laboratory. Six letters in Israel have been sent to laboratories, and sent back again after they tested negative. But no sooner had they been returned, unidentified powder suspected to contain anthrax spores was found on an Israeli cargo plane.
In Belgium the authorities have already started drawing up tougher laws against hoaxers after a series of envelopes containing harmless white powder were delivered to various buildings, including private homes and banks. "These practical jokers should know that they are going to face jail sentences," said Deputy Prime Minister Laurette Onkelinkx.
Despite the rash of false alarms, citizens are being told to keep their eyes open. In Hong Kong the authorities have warned people to look out for suspicious letters or parcels, and not to open anything from obscure sources. Meanwhile in China checks have been ordered on suspicious mail. Japan has tightened postal checks and urged its citizens to report all suspicious mail to the police. Post offices are using x-ray machines to screen all international mail and parcels that have no return address, and at the central post office in Tokyo, workers have started wearing masks. In South Korea all major public and private facilities in the capital - such as subway stations, cinemas, department stores - have been asked to hold at least one drill by November.
In Thailand and the Philippines, people have been advised to inspect their post carefully for stains or powder marks before opening. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Government has said it will co-operate fully with US investigations into a letter bearing a Malaysian postmark, containing anthrax, which was sent to an office of software giant Microsoft in Reno, Nevada. But Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was still waiting for the US to display the evidence.
15 October, 2001, BBC Online
Met chief learns NY terror lessons
London's Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens has come to New York to see the site of the World Trade Center attack for himself. But despite the senior policeman's years of anti-terrorist experience, he says he is meeting his US counterparts not to teach, but to learn.
With the UK the only nation to so far actively join the American air strikes on Afghanistan, Sir John has warned that British cities such as London might fall victim to a terror attack on the scale of that experienced by New York on 11 September. "Who are the biggest allies of America? Which is the next-biggest target?" he has asked.
Having endured decades of IRA bombings, Britons rarely take their safety and security for granted as Americans did prior to the shocking events of 11 September.
While London has mobilised an extra 1,500 police officers, New York is awash with uniforms. Some 4,500 National Guard troops - akin to the UK Territorial Army - have left their civilian careers and homes for "active" service. Largely trained for combat, these men and women from all walks of life now Added to the sizable military contingent, police officers and state troopers from hundreds of miles away have also been drafted in to beef up security.
While security at such sites as Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and London's Canary Wharf has been stepped up, efforts to counter terror attacks are by no means as visible in the UK as they presently are in United States. About to visit "ground zero" for himself, Sir John says London's security is not being ignored. "We will do what is necessary to ensure the protection of London. You have my word on that."
11 October, 2001, BBC Online
Terrorism expert warns of escalation
An expert on terrorism has warned against expanding military action beyond the borders of Afghanistan. Professor Paul Wilkinson of St Andrews University said bombing other Arab countries would be "dangerously misguided".
He told an audience of 300 people at the Institute of Contemporary Scotland in Glasgow such a move would make it harder to suppress the al Qaeda terror network. He said there was "a real threat" of more airliners being hijacked. Prof Wilkinson, director of the university's centre for the study of terrorism and political violence, said action against the September 11 atrocities should focus on identifying members of al Qaeda.
He said: "This is an extremely difficult task and it needs to be pursued with maximum urgency, resources and international cooperation." Widening the military campaign beyond Afghanistan could jeopardise efforts to dismantle the network, led by Osama bin Laden, he warned.
The comments came after America's ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, said other countries might be targeted. In a letter to the UN Security Council, Mr Negroponte said: "We may find that our self defence requires further actions with respect to other organisations and other states."
11 October, 2001, BBC Online
Al-Qaeda threatens fresh terror attacks
A spokesman for Osama Bin Laden's militant group, al-Qaeda, has delivered a defiant statement urging all Muslims to join in a holy war against the United States and to attack American interests around the world.
The spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, was speaking in a message recorded after the start of the US-led bombing campaign. It was broadcast by the Qatar-based television station al-Jazeera. Abu Ghaith praised the suicide attacks against America on 11 September and said there would be more of them.
Meanwhile the United States has carried out more daylight air raids on Afghanistan - the country's air defences have been repeatedly targeted and the US now says it has taken control of the skies. The ruling Taleban regime in Afghanistan has said it will free up Bin Laden, whom it is sheltering, to wage a jihad. He had previously been barred by the regime from using telephones, fax machines and the internet.
Abu Ghaith said in his statement: "The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate. There are thousands of the Islamic nation's youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live." He said the US and Britain, by attacking Afghanistan, had opened a door that would never be closed.
10 October, 2001, BBC Online
'No terror link' to Saudi blast
Officials in Washington say they do not see any immediate link between a bomb blast in the eastern Saudi Arabian town of al-Khobar, and last month's attacks in the United States.
Two people were killed in the blast, one of whom is reported to be an American and four other foreigners, including one Briton, were injured. Investigators are sifting through the wreckage looking for clues to who may have carried out the attack.
In recent years there have been a number of attacks against foreigners in Saudi Arabia, which police have linked to illegal alcohol trafficking.
In Washington, a US official said the blast appeared, on early information, to be an "isolated incident" unconnected to the terrorist attacks in America.
7 October, 2001, BBC Online
A car bomb has exploded in the Talpiot area of southern Jerusalem - a popular shopping district.
The explosion set several cars ablaze and threw some vehicles into the air, but no injuries were reported.
The device was packed with bullets designed to produce shrapnel, the police said.
Correspondents say the blast has raised further doubts about the nature of a ceasefire agreed last month by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It is the first such blast since since the ceasefire was agreed on 18 September. Militant Palestinians have said they will not observe the ceasefire and violence continued at the weekend, with at least 12 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops.
Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV reported that the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, Al-Quds Squads, admitted it was behind the explosion. Israeli officials said the car bomb blast marked a definite escalation of violence.
1 October, 2001, BBC Online
A car bomb has exploded in Vitoria, the capital of Spain's Basque region. The explosion, wrecked the front of a court house and set around 20 other vehicles on fire.
One person was slightly injured by flying debris. Police sealed off the area while firefighters tackled the blaze. The bomb has been blamed on the Basque separatist group, ETA.
Telephone warning calls were made to a Spanish breakdown organisation before the blast. "We had got used to a time without attacks but we are back to usual now, " said the Spanish government representative
in the Basque region, Enrique Villar. "We always have to fear the worst and this is just another example," he said.
The blast comes only four days after a bomb suspected to have been planted by ETA separatists went off in a disco in Lacunza, in the Navarre region of northern Spain. The explosion, late last Thursday, caused severe damage but no injuries. ETA's 33-year campaign for independence has claimed 800 lives.
1 October, 2001, BBC Online
Police cordoned off a street in Bristol after a hand grenade was discovered among charity shop donations.
Bomb disposal experts were called in after the 'explosive' was found. The grenade is understood to have been given to Oxfam on Cotham Hill by someone who thought the shop could sell it.
The store and neighbouring buildings were evacuated and roadblocks set up in the surrounding area. Officers said they were aware the grenade may be a replica but took the precautions in case it was a live weapon.
1 October, 2001, BBC Online
'Extraordinary' bomb hoaxer capture
An ex-soldier who conducted a hoax bomb campaign against the Welsh Assembly over its handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis has escaped a jail sentence.
Christopher Valentine Fussell, 61, made a series of malicious telephone calls and even planted a fake bomb outside the assembly offices in Cardiff. But Fussell was caught by a police officer who recognised his voice from a tape of a 999 call, during a visit to the defendant's home concerning a reported stolen car. Pc Philip Morgan found the missing car, which contained a banner protesting at the burning of animal carcasses.
At Cardiff Crown Court, the defendant admitted six charges of making hoax calls and a further charge of placing a fake incendiary device. He was sentenced to a two-year community rehabilitation order on condition he has psychiatric treatment.
During one of the bomb hoax calls, Fussell said he had planted an incendiary device at the assembly, the court heard. He said it was a protest at the administration's handling of the foot-and-mouth crisis, particularly the burning of carcasses at Trecastle, Sennybridge, mid Wales.
A suspect package was found and the building was evacuated and the device was exploded. Further examination revealed the package had contained electrical wires and a mobile phone battery, but no explosives.
28 September, 2001, BBC Online
Explosives found at two Moscow airports
Explosives have been found inside a car parked near Moscow's Vnukovo airport after a telephoned bomb warning prompted a search.
The airport was evacuated shortly after the authorities were alerted, according to local news agencies. Airport police reportedly used sniffer dogs to locate the explosives.
In another incident, a cargo plane at Moscow's Domodedovo airport was found to be carrying eight tonnes of explosives and hundreds of detonators. Russian news agencies said the An-12 plane was detained on Thursday night after customs officers noticed its licenses were printed on Soviet-era notepaper.
The aircraft's permit to transport the goods over Russia expired about two months ago. But an airport spokesman told Reuters that the explosives were merely part of a routine shipment to the Kazakh mining town of Dzhezkazgan. "We expected the plane to land in Moscow, it is a regular flight," he said. The plane had been scheduled to complete its journey later that day.
Earlier on Friday, Vnukovo airport was briefly evacuated after an anonymous caller said there was a bomb in the building. No explosives were found.
Russian news agencies said the Domodedovo cargo was being sent from Vienna to Kazakhstan by a Madrid-based company, Union Espanola de Explosives. The plane, belonging to the Spanish company Union Espanol, is being held in Moscow while further background checks are carried out, reports said.
28 September, 2001, BBC Online
Belgium swoops on 'bomb factory'
Belgian police taking part in the worldwide investigation following the US terror attacks have arrested two men and seized a huge store of chemicals in their Brussels flat.
Belgian media reported that the chemicals could have been used to make a bomb, and that a "terrorist" plot had been foiled. The police raid, which was made on Thursday night but only revealed on Saturday, was linked by the Belgian prosecutor's office to the earlier arrest of two suspected Islamic militants.
Police found 100 kilograms of sulphur and 50 litres of acetone at the flat above a North African snack bar. The two suspected Islamic militants arrested earlier, one of them a Tunisian, are being held on charges of criminal organisation and illegal weapon possession. A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office said the chemicals found were "at face value, suspect" but it was too early to talk of a link to the attacks on the US.
22 September, 2001, BBC Online
Letter bomber sent to mental hospital
A schizophrenic who waged a two-month letter bomb campaign across parts of the UK is to be detained indefinitely in a mental hospital.
Glynn Harding, 27, targeted a dozen addresses - in the north of England and north Wales - and injured three people including a six-year-old girl.
Passing sentence, Recorder of Chester Judge Elgan Edwards said Harding, of Crewe, Cheshire, was "pure evil". He said the animal activist would have been sentenced to life imprisonment had it not been for his mental condition.
Harding learned how to make parcel bombs from books and the internet before starting his reign of terror. Chester Crown Court heard the attacks spread across the north of England, Scotland and Wales, between 15 December last year and 21 February this year. Harding had previously admitted three charges of causing injury by explosives and 12 counts of sending an explosive with intent.
Prosecutor Duncan Bould told the court: "Harding undertook a carefully executed campaign to send dangerous parcel bombs to individuals and organisations. "Fifteen such explosive devices were sent. The only connection between the intended recipient was that each had an apparent association, however, tenuous with animals."
His targets included people with links to the animal industry, including a pet store and a cancer research charity shop which sold fur coats. Six-year-old Leah Cain, of Congleton, Cheshire, was injured when she was hit by shards of metal when she opened a parcel sent to her father, Michael, who works for a pest control firm.
Prosecutor Duncan Bould said although Harding had sympathies with animal rights campaigners he was not a member of any group. "It was a determined and dangerous campaign. The detonation mechanism was simple but dangerously effective. "The intended victim causes the device to function. Each of the 15 devices were sent to cause injury either to burn or disfigure. "Certain devices can result in death. In short, they have the potential to kill." Mr Bould told the court that whoever opened any of the letter bombs, which were packed in padded bags, would have been injured.
21 September, 2001, BBC Online
The police have said two suspicious objects left at two courthouses in County Down were hoax bombs. One of the devices was found on the roof of the courthouse in Newry on Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, the courthouse in Banbridge, County Down, was also evacuated on Thursday morning because of another alert. A caller said a bomb had been left in the building. Pensioners living in sheltered housing near the courthouse, a library and a leisure centre had to be evacuated during the search for devices.
A suspicious object was found, but it was declared a hoax after examination.
20 September, 2001, BBC Online
At least six people have been killed in a bomb explosion in the Pakistani town of Sialkot, near the Indian border.
Local police say the bomb, which was in a plastic bag on a bicycle, was detonated by a timing device.
Correspondents say the area was crowded with unemployed labourers seeking work. Most of those who died were killed instantly, while more than 40 have been injured and are being treated in local hospitals. It is not yet clear who is behind the attack.
Pakistani security forces are currently on alert across the country for possible attacks as tensions rise over Pakistan's decision to support possible US military action against Afghanistan.
19 September, 2001, BBC Online
Bomb threat forces Virgin diversion
A Virgin Airlines jumbo jet flying from Heathrow to New York had to be diverted to Canada following a bomb threat.
Four Canadian jet fighters escorted the aircraft - carrying 314 people - to an unscheduled landing in Newfoundland. The four F-18s were sent up by the North American Aerospace Defence Command in the United States in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, a spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said. Passengers and crew were taken off the Boeing 747 by Canadian officials while they searched and screened the plane.The threat was proved to be false.
Tthe Virgin spokesman said. "Our passengers fully understand and support the decision. We feel in the current circumstances it was a prudent decision," he added. The plane had been flying from Heathrow to New York's JFK International Airport.
8 September, 2001, BBC Online
Security alerts spread from US
The horrific attacks in the US have triggered security alerts across the world - especially at US military bases and embassies.
In the US itself, all government buildings were evacuated and all commercial flights suspended until at least noon on Wednesday. Air force fighters were ordered to attack any suspicious aircraft flying in US airspace. And seven US warships are sailing towards New York. A number of crossing points on the Mexican border were closed, as, briefly, were some on the Canadian border.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin held a crisis meeting with heads of the power ministries, and called a session of the security council, while the Russian air force took unspecified "anti-terrorism measures".
France was placed on a heightened security alert involving the deployment of armed troop patrols at airports and metro stations as well as increased street and border controls. At Nato headquarters in Brussels, Secretary-General Lord George Robertson called an emergency meeting and told non-essential staff to leave work early, and to stay away on Wednesday. A spokesman said Lord Robertson had told staff that "for a defence organisation it was better to be safe than sorry".
Israel closed its airspace to foreign flights, and evacuated staff from diplomatic missions and Jewish institutions around the world.
Many countries automatically tightened security around embassies, airports, and other key installations. In Berlin and Istanbul streets around the US embassy were sealed off by police cars. The US embassy in London said it was continuing "business as usual" but with telephone lines to New York and Washington heavily overloaded, US embassies in Europe were answering numerous calls from worried US citizens.
Italian Nato bases at Naples, Aviano, Istrana and Leghorn, were under heightened security. At Leghorn, an oil depot of the Kuwaiti Q8 oil company was also under strict surveillance. Aviano is one of the principal US airbases in Europe, from where the airspace in the former Yugoslavia is being monitored. At Incirlik base in southern Turkey, where a force of 40 British and US planes patrols the no-fly zone over northern Iraq, a spokesman said security had been boosted, but did not specify the level of alert.
The Japanese deputy Defence Minister, Takemasa Moriya, said that Japan would step up security measures around US bases in Japan, including the Misawa airbase, and the Iwakuni Marine air base. The US Marine Corps in Okinawa went on maximum alert following the suspected terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the Kyodo news agency said quoting a US military official.
Last Friday, the US embassy in Tokyo released a terse statement that said it had received reports of possible "terrorist actions" directed at US soldiers, military interests and related facilities. There are some 51,000 US troops stationed in Japan, nearly half of which are posted on the island of Okinawa.
The French security alert follows a plan, codenamed Vigipirate, which was first introduced in 1995 following a series of bombings in Paris that were blamed on Algerian guerrillas of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). After an emergency meeting with Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant said: "The prime minister has just decided to enact a heightened Vigipirate plan, which means the mobilisation of all security forces and armed forces to guarantee protection and security of the French people."
12 September, 2001, BBC Online
Pakistani police foil bomb attack
Police in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan say they have foiled an attempt by suspected members of Afghanistan's anti-Taliban Northern Alliance to carry out a bomb attack in the city of Quetta.
They said four Afghan Tajiks from the northern Afghan province of Takhar had been arrested while they were planning to explode a locally made bomb. The provincial police chief, Syed Kamal Shah, said the 16kg bomb was powerful enough to demolish a three-storey building. He said the police suspected the men were involved in last month's blast in the city in which three people died.
Bomb scare empties Malaysia towers
Malaysian authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the world's tallest building - the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur - after a bomb threat.
The evacuation, initially described as a safety drill, followed devastating terror attacks in the United States which killed thousands of people and destroyed the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Police are now searching the 88-storey Petronas building in the Malaysian capital.
12 September, 2001, BBC Online
The United States has been rocked by devastating attacks which destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and seriously damaged the Pentagon in Washington.
Thousands are feared to have died inside the buildings when hijacked airliners slammed into them. About 260 more are presumed to have perished on board the planes. Another building close to the World Trade Center, Salomon Brothers 7, collapsed several hours after the original catastrophe.
New York remains in a state of intense fear and confusion, made worse by a thick fog of ash, fumes and debris from the ruins of the Trade Center. No-one has said they were responsible for the attack, but US officials have pointed the finger at Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, an Islamic militant.
Another passenger jet - a United Airlines 757 - has crashed in Pennsylvania, south-east of Pittsburgh, with all 45 people on board feared dead. The plane's intended target was believed to be the Maryland presidential retreat, Camp David.
President Bush, who cut short a visit to Florida on hearing the news, said the US would hunt down and punish those responsible. Mr Bush is now returning to Washington, where he is expected to address the nation on Tuesday evening. New York's Mayor, Rudolph Giuliani, said a "tremendous" number of lives had been lost in the city. He gave no specific figure, but said 1,500 walking wounded had been evacuated to a nearby park, and another 600 were being treated in local hospitals. Dr Steven Stern at St Vincent's Hospital in the Greenwich Village area of lower Manhattan said: "Hundreds of people are burned from head to toe." Appeals have been issued for supplies of blood to help treat the injured.
In Washington, the Pentagon - the heart of the US military establishment - suffered a direct hit from another hijacked passenger jet. Part of the five-sided structure collapsed and secondary explosions were reported as huge clouds of smoke rose from the wreckage. Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said there were "extensive casualties and an unknown number of fatalities".
United Airlines confirmed that two of its planes had crashed with a total of 110 people on board - one in Pennsylvania and the other in New York. American Airlines said it owned the other two planes lost, which were carrying 156 passengers altogether.
World leaders have reacted with shock and outrage to news of the devastating attacks.
11 September, 2001, BBC News Online
US issues Japan terror warning
The US embassy in Tokyo has warned American residents in Japan of a potential threat from "terrorist actions". The embassy said in a statement that it had unconfirmed reports that US military facilities or locations visited by military personnel could be targeted.
A similar warning has been issued in South Korea, which is also home to US troops. US embassy spokesman Patrick Linehan said the threat was "credible" but could not give further details. This type of warning was also issued in June after members of Islamic extremist group Hezbollah were indicted for the bombing of US institutions
The US said that the warning was issued under the "Lockerbie rule" under which it undertakes to share any such alerts with American citizens. The US has been blamed for not publicising security information which it received shortly before the bombing of a Pan American airliner over Scotland in 1988.
The US fears it is at risk after it indicted Islamic militants for Saudi terror attacks Of the 120,000 Americans who live in Japan, nearly 48,000 play an active role in the US military. The US military's presence in Japan is controversial. There have been repeated crimes involving US soldiers on the southern island of Okinawa, where about half of the American forces are stationed.
7 September, 2001, BBC News Online
Police attacked after bombs find
An RUC officer has been injured during clashes which followed the discovery of bombs in west Belfast.
A number of blast and pipe bombs were found in a derelict house in the staunchly Protestant Shankill area of the city at about 1530 BST on Thursday. The devices were found in a bag at the rear of a house on Hopewell Crescent, after officers noticed a number of youths acting suspiciously.
Police at the scene were attacked with missiles and one officer was taken to hospital with a hand injury.
6 September, 2001, BBC Online
