US airport evacuated after suspicious liquid found in luggage

NEW YORK: An airport in US' West Virginia State was evacuated after two bottles containing liquid in the carry bag of a woman of Pakistani origin tested positive for explosives and bomb sniffing dogs positively reacted to them.

The woman, who has not yet been identified, was questioned by FBI but was not arrested. The suspect's bottles would be moved to a remote area by robot where attempts would be made to detonate them and experts would conduct chemical tests to find out the nature of contents, officials said.

Screeners at the Tri-State Airport in Huntington found four items containing liquid out of which two tested positive, officials said. A canine team also got a positive hit for explosives, they said.

The flight in which the woman was to go was allowed to take off but about 100 passengers and employees were evacuated as police conducted the investigations.

Reports said one screener noticed a bottle in the carry on bag of the woman who was preparing to board the flight to Charlotte in North Carolina after the regular security check.

The machine which detects explosives gave positive results in the case of two. The woman had a one-way ticket to Detroit vita Charlotte, an official said.

He said the 28-year-old woman was originally from Pakistan but had moved to Huntington from Jackson, Michigan. Her identification papers showed she was born in 1978.

The US administration has banned carrying liquids into flights ever since London police foiled a plot to blow up transatlantic flights coming into the United States using liquid explosives.