"We have been told to pay particular attention to females who may have concealed explosives in their breasts," the airport authorities said

Security checks have been beefed up at UK's Heathrow airport after intelligence reports surfaced that al-Qaida is plotting attacks on airlines flying out of London. Increased surveillance led to long queues at Heathrow on Friday.

The warning comes just days after the UK shut down some of its foreign missions following a warning from Interpol that a series of jailbreaks across nine countries in the past month, including in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan, could lead to new terror recruits.

With suspected al-Qaida involvement in several of the breakouts which led to the escape of hundreds of terrorists and other criminals, the Interpol General Secretariat headquarters' global security alert "requests the organization's 190 member countries' assistance in order to determine whether any of these recent events are coordinated or linked". Interpol said: "In recent years, terrorist attacks focusing on diplomatic facilities in Afghanistan, Greece, India, Kenya, Libya, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tanzania, Turkey and Yemen have also resulted in hundreds of casualties of all nationalities."

Britain's foreign office says there is a very high kidnap threat from armed tribes, criminals and terrorists.
Britain's highest security body - the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of Parliament recently declared that the threat level to the %UK from international terrorism is "substantial" indicating that an attack is a strong possibility.

In a report tabled at parliament, ISC declared that the "threat to British interests from espionage remains high" and the UK is "a high-priority target for a number of foreign intelligence services". It said the commercial sector as well as government, technology, defence and security interests are at risk from both"traditional" espionage and hostile activity conducted in cyberspace.

UK's biggest threat is from al-Qaida with the ISC saying the banned organization continues to operate despite significant pressure in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan. Investigations have found that the threat from al-Qaida has diversified; although all Qaida affiliates retain significant intent, their capabilities and opportunities vary. The report says: "The greatest risk of attack on UK soil is posed by al-Qaida-inspired but self-organized groups, particularly those who have sought advice and training from extremists in Fata."