‘Terrorists are experimenting with integrating explosives in battery electronics’

The reason for the ban on taking larger electronics with you on flights is tests that terrorists would carry out with the hiding of explosives in batteries and battery holders. They would like to accommodate these in laptops, among other things.

Intelligence obtained in recent weeks would indicate that Al Qaeda is experimenting with the integration of explosives into electronics, CNN reports. The terrorists would target commercial flights and, among other things, want to bomb battery compartments of laptops.

It would not be the first time that laptops, for example, are used for aircraft bombs. In February last year, a bomb exploded in a laptop aboard a flight from Somalia. The bomb punched a hole in the fuselage, but only the perpetrator was killed. It is not known how the laptop passed the security check.

Intelligence about the battery bombs has led the US and UK to ban carrying electronics larger than cell phones into aircraft cabins. The ban applies to flights to the US from a dozen airports in eight countries.