Washington toughens airport security measures

Local Editor, 4-1-2010

US officials tautened security measures for US-bound airline passengers Sunday, including mandatory enhanced screening of all travelers from 14 nations, some on a US terrorism blacklist, 10 days after a failed Al Qaeda bid to blow up a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.
"Every individual flying into the US from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening," officials said.

The tough rules which started into effect since Sunday night are to include passengers traveling from or via a total of 14 countries.

Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria are currently the only four countries deemed by the US State Department to be state sponsors of terrorism.

But a senior administration official told AFP the stringent measures would also include Afghanistan, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

He refused to reveal the remaining four nations, but US newspapers, The New York Times and Washington Post, quoted government officials identifying them as Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq.