Britons told to avoid Saudi travel

The British government yesterday warned citizens against travel to Saudi Arabia amid disputed reports that two small airplanes loaded with explosives were prevented from crashing into a British Airways jet.

Armed sky marshals are also being ordered onto some British airliners as a “responsible and prudent step” in response to U.S. terror alerts, said a top London official. The British Foreign Office travel advisory said terrorist attacks appear imminent.

Meanwhile yesterday, a U.S. congressman criticized French officials for saying too much about the terror-related cancellations of flights from Paris last week, and also said some changes were needed in the U.S. color-coded alert system.

The State Department issued a warning similar to Britain’s about Saudi Arabia on Dec. 17, just days before the Homeland Security Department put the nation on Code Orange, or high alert of a terrorist attack.

Free flights out of Saudi Arabia were offered to nonessential personnel and their dependents at the U.S. Embassy and consulates, and American citizens were advised to leave the country.

“Following terrorist attacks in Riyadh in May and November, we continue to believe terrorists are planning further attacks in Saudi Arabia and that these could be in the final stages of preparation,” the British advisory read. “We advise British nationals against all but essential travel to Saudi Arabia.”

Patrick Mercer, security-policy chief for the Conservative Party, told the Mail on Sunday newspaper that pilots planned to crash light planes packed with explosives into a Western jet as it taxied down the runway, and that British Airways was the likely target.

“My understanding is that [the light planes] were found on the flight line and that the plan was to fly them into a passenger jet either about to land or take off,” Mr. Mercer told the paper.

The two pilots were arrested, but Saudi officials tried to cover up the incident, Mr. Mercer said.

The newspaper report was disputed yesterday in a statement issued by the official Saudi Press Agency.

“A Saudi security official said that a report by the Mail on Sunday quoting a British politician as saying that Saudi authorities arrested two suicide pilots who were planning to fly two small planes into a packed British Airways plane is not true,” the agency said.

“It is unfortunate that some foreign newspapers have taken to publishing such baseless news, with the goal of sensationalism without respecting the responsibility of media reporting,” the agency said.

British Airways has not commented, citing security concerns.

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