‘Qaeda terror bombs 50 times more powerful than needed to blow hole in aircraft fuselage’

LONDON - The bombs smuggled in the cargo plane terror plot at East Midlands Airport and in Dubai reportedly contained explosives at least 50 times more powerful than required to blow a hole in an aircraft fuselage.

According to the Telegraph, experts in Germany said that the bombs contained at least 300 grams (10.58oz) of the powerful explosive Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN).

Last year, British explosives expert Sidney Alford had claimed that just 6 grams of PETN would be enough to punch a hole into a metal plate twice the thickness of an aircraft fuselage.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron told the Government’s emergency committee Cobra that every possible step must be taken “to work with our partners in the Arab world to cut out the terrorist cancer that lurks in the Arabian Peninsula”.

Meanwhile UK Home secretary Teresa May told MPs that both bombs originated in Yemen and were believed to be the work of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap).

“The devices were probably intended to detonate mid-air and to destroy the cargo aircraft on which they were being transported. Had the device detonated we assess it could have succeeded in bringing down the aircraft,” she added.

She further stated that although there was no information to suggest another attack of a similar type was imminent, the authorities were working “on the assumption that this organisation will wish to continue to find ways of also attacking targets further afield.”

The paper quoted May as saying that as a precautionary measure, all flights containing unaccompanied freight from Somalia will be suspended in the wake of the terror plot. Ink cartridges larger than 500 gram (17.6oz) will be banned from hand baggage on flights departing from the UK and also on cargo flights unless they originate from a regular shipper with security arrangements approved by the Department for Transport. (ANI)