The New Face of Terrorism

From the BBC:

They planned to detonate liquid explosives on up to 10 planes. They would have smuggled it on board hidden in drinks, electronic devices and other “common objects”. At UK airports on Thursday – with the country on its highest terror alert of “critical” – bottles of water were taken from passengers and mothers asked to taste their babies’ milk before it could be taken onto flights…. Chaos continues at UK airports with Heathrow the worse affected. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and many more delayed. Passengers who do make it onto flights, are not allowed to take any hand luggage with them.

And then this:

Across the world, airport operators and airlines have been forced to bring in increasingly stringent security measures to try to ensure safety in the air. But nothing has been as draconian as the steps taken in the UK following the discovery of a suspected plot to blow up several planes in mid-air. Passengers have been banned from taking any hand luggage bar the barest essentials on to flights leaving the UK. The few items allowed – such as travel documents, wallets, baby food and nappies – must be carried in a transparent plastic bag.

We now have a new and genuine threat to air safety: common objects we carry on airplanes. The plan was to bring constituent components of an explosive device on to multiple airplanes, piece them together while in flight, and then detonate the explosives.

That is what we are up against.