Hong Kong on alert after bomb warning
Print Edition
TWO Hong Kong airlines received a warning from Taiwan about a possible bomb attack targeting a flight to the southern Chinese city, they said yesterday.
Details of the threat were scant but it comes at a time of heightened tension on the Chinese mainland as the government responds to a spate of suicide bombings and stabbings by separatists from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The South China Morning Post, quoting an unnamed Taiwan law enforcement officer, said a woman carrying a bomb planned to fly from the mainland to Hong Kong either yesterday or today, on a flight operated by Cathay Pacific or its Dragonair unit.
A spokeswoman for the city’s flagship airline told reporters that a threat message originating from Taiwan had been made known to the company.
“We are aware of a threat message with reference to our flights from China’s mainland to Hong Kong as shared by the Taiwan authorities,” a Cathay spokeswoman said.
A second carrier, Hong Kong Airlines, said it had received the same intelligence.
“Hong Kong Airlines believe there is a need to strengthen the level of internal security alert to ensure safety. The company has urged frontline officers to stay particularly alert,” a spokeswoman said.
Police in Hong Kong, however, said “no concrete intelligence” existed about an imminent attack.
In Taipei, an official with Taiwan’s Aviation Police Bureau said it had been informed by supervisors about a potential threat. But the official declined to give further information on which agency had issued the warning.
Hong Kong’s airport is one of the busiest in the world but reporting of terror plots against the city is rare.
Last month, China launched a yearlong campaign against terrorism, after a terrorist attack in Xinjiang’s regional capital of Urumqi killed 39 people.
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