US on terror alert
All commercial aircraft in the United States are being searched after luggage containing knives, clay and bleach was found on two flights on Thursday.
Boxcutters were used by al-Qaeda operatives in the 2001 September 11 atrocities.
The suspicious items were found in toilets on two Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 planes, now grounded in Houston and New Orleans.
A note found in both packages said the items were intended to test security procedures.
The Department of Homeland Security and its Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that more than 7000 aircraft would be checked for similar items within 24 hours.
Flight delays are not expected.
Southwest said nothing else was found after it checked all of its 385 fleet.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters: “I will tell you that it does not appear to be a terrorist event and there is no imminent threat.
“There were no explosives, there was no imminent threat in terms of a capability to commit a terrorist act.”
A 20-year-old North Carolina college student is being questioned by the FBI in connection with the incidents, according to reports.
