US to announce new airport security rules

WASHINGTON: The US government will announce new airline security rules on Sunday, but a complete prohibition on carry-on luggage is "unlikely", US Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said.            

Three days after Britain foiled a plot to blow up US-bound jets with smuggled liquid explosives, Chertoff said authorities still did not know if the plot was masterminded by Al-Qaeda, but would not yet rule out the possibility.          

Chertoff said on ABC television that the Transportation Security Administration would announce on Sunday "finer restrictions" on passengers boarding aircraft in the United States after a sweeping crackdown in the wake of the British plot.              

"I do not see us moving to a total ban on hand baggage at this point," however, he said.    

"We think that with the means we have regarding liquids, with the training we've given (for) screening and with the tools we have, we're capable of protecting the airlines without the measure that would so inconvenience people of preventing from bringing anything on" the aircraft, Chertoff said.    

He separately told Fox News Sunday that US and British investigators were still digging to see whether the plot broken up in London was directed by the Al-Qaeda leadership or not.            

"Certainly this plot bears ... the hallmarks of an Al-Qaeda-type plot in sophistication, global reach and really the nature of the plot itself."          

However, he added, "We're still in the process of forming a definitive conclusion ... We have not seen that at this point."