SHE BOMBER Jan 3 2004
A BA flight to Washington was cancelled at the last minute yesterday after an intelligence tip-off that a woman suicide bomber planned to blow up the plane over the US capital.
US security services told Scotland Yard the woman - almost certainly linked to al-Qaeda - intended to hide eight to 12 ounces of plastic explosive in her vagina.
She would then go to the toilet during the Boeing 747 flight, remove the material and detonate a blast that would down the aircraft.
The source said intelligence information indicated only that an attack was planned for "sometime over the holiday period".
Apparently, a particular BA flight number was at risk.
The source added: "Because the intelligence did not identify a passenger by name, it was decided to disrupt the plot by cancelling the flights."
Defence analyst Paul Beaver said: "We have got intelligence, I am told, that there was a plan to take the aircraft and destroy it over Washington or fly it into something."
In spite of it all I had to smile at the defence analyst's name.