Authorities fear al-Qaeda terror attack on US-bound aircraft

American and European authorities have said that they fear an al-Qaeda terror attack on US-bound aircraft with explosives hidden inside the bodies of terrorists, as the first death anniversary of Osama bin laden looms.

Security at several airports in the UK and at many other airports in Europe and Middle East has been beefed up, with special focus on US carriers, ABC News reports.

Additional federal air marshals have also been shifted overseas in advance of the death anniversary.

US officials have said, however, that there is no credible information of an impending attack.

Medical experts have said that there is plenty of scope for planting a bomb in the stomach area of the body surgically.

In a released statement, Department of Homeland Security spokesman Peter Boogaard said, "We have no indication of any specific, credible threats or plots against the US tied to the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death."
 
Since last year, US and European authorities have warned that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate, and its master bomb-maker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, have been designing body bombs with no metal parts to get clearance from airport security.

But earlier on Monday, White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan called the al-Qaeda group in Yemen as the greatest threat to the United States.

"AQAP continues to be al-Qaeda 's most active affiliate, and it continues to seek the opportunity to strike our homeland," Brennan said during a speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington.