US-bound passengers from 14 countries to undergo additional security screening at airports

The United States has announced that passengers flying from or flying via at least 14 countries will be subject to additional security screening at airports from which they board the US-bound flights.

The visitors from these countries, which include Nigeria, Pakistan and Yemen, will be “patted down” and their all carry-on baggage will be searched before boarding.

This move by the government of the United States follows the incident on Christmas Day in which a Nigerian man attempted to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight on way from Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Detroit in the United States. A major tragedy was, however, averted after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who had carried a bomb sewn into his undergarment, was overpowered by the passengers and crew before he was able to detonate the device as flight was about to land in Detroit.

United States President Barack Obama has said that it seemed Abdulmutallab is a member of the terrorist outfit al-Qaeda, which had trained and equipped the man in Yemen.

The US government also is investigating why and how the US intelligence agencies failed to prevent Abdulmutallab from getting into the plane.

In a statement, the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said that because of the fact that “effective aviation security” must begin beyond the borders of the United States, every person flying into the Unite States from anywhere in the world travelling from, or through, nations that are “state sponsors of terrorism” or “other countries of interest” will have to undergo increased security checks.

The Transportation Security Administration, the agency which is responsible for security in all modes of transportation in the United States, added that the

new directives on enhanced security screening also will increases the use of  screening technologies and will also require conducting “threat-based” as well as “random screening” of all passengers on international flights bound for the United States.

At present, the United States lists countries such as Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba as “state sponsors of terrorism.”

Under the news US directives, the countries that find a place in the list of “state sponsors of terrorism” or “other countries of interest” include Algeria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Heathrow Airport in London – the busiest airport in Europe – has introduced full-body scanners to check passengers as a part of the airport’s latest efforts to step up security in the aftermath of the attempt to blow up the US-bound Northwest flight on Christmas Day.

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of Britain, said the authorities had “acted fast” in introducing the full-body scanners to screen all passengers at Heathrow Airport since “a new form of explosive” that was used by al-Qaeda cannot be identified by ordinary screening machines.

Accordingly, all air passengers bound for the United States will be checked for traces of explosive on their person or in their hand-baggage. Both transit passengers and transfer passengers will be checked by full-body scanners, Gordon Brown explained.

The Netherlands had said about a week ago that full-body scanners will be used to screen the passengers on all US-bound flights departing from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.