President Barack Obama said last night that suspect packages from Yemen bound for the US contained explosive material and were a “credible terrorist threat”.
“I want to update the American people on a credible terrorist threat across the country,” Mr Obama said.
Intelligence and law enforcement agents “identified two suspicious packages” that were bound for “two places of Jewish worship in Chicago,” Mr Obama said, adding that they had been located in Dubai and East Midlands airport.
“An initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material.”
“Last night and earlier today, our intelligence and law enforcement professionals working with our friends and allies identified two suspicious packages bound for the United States, specifically, two places of Jewish worship in Chicago,” Mr Obama said.
The suspect packages from Yemen had unleashed an international security alert in Britain, the United States and around the Middle East yesterday, sparking fears of an Al-Qaeda cargo plane plot.
The two suspect packages were pulled overnight off one plane in Britain and another in Dubai, both in transit for the United States.
US President Barack Obama was informed late Thursday of a “potential terrorist threat” and intelligence agencies were investigating whether Al-Qaeda’s branch in Yemen was involved, officials said.
A link to Al-Qaeda in Yemen was “a possibility we’re looking into but it’s too soon to say definitively”, said a US counter-terrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Yemeni officials said their government had launched a full investigation and was working closely on the incident with international partners, including the United States.
US fighter jets were scrambled to escort a plane, Emirates Airlines flight 201, which was intercepted once it reached Canadian and then American airspace because it had a package from Yemen on board.
Media pictures of the suspicious package found in Britain appeared to show an ink toner cartridge, a small circuit board and attached wires, but officials were staying quiet on the contents.
US authorities warned Jewish leaders in Chicago of a threat against synagogues in the city, which reportedly could be part of the suspected plot.
“We were told that synagogues should be on the alert,” Linda Hasse, vice president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, said. “We are taking appropriate precautions and advising local synagogues to do likewise.”
US media reports suggested that at least one of the cargo planes being swept in the United States had also passed through East Midlands Airport.
The cargo scare offered a new twist as Western authorities have usually focused on dangers posed to passenger airliners following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when Al-Qaeda hijacked planes and struck targets in New York and Washington.
Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, faces a growing threat from the local branch of his global jihadist network.