UK Attending Trump Terror Summit Following Potential Airline Bomb Threat

Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Boris Johnson will attend a terror summit chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Wednesday.

It will be the first time the 69-strong coalition of nations against the Islamic State has assembled in full since 2014, according to The Telegraph. The summit follows reports that bans on bringing large electronic devices such as laptops, tablets, and e-readers into airline cabins in the U.S. and Britain were prompted by intelligence which pointed to an emerging threat to commercial flights.

The UK ban will affect passengers flying from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia, and is set to come into effect within days. Devices larger than 6.3 inches (16cm) long, 3.6 inches (9.3cm) wide, and 0.6 inches (1.5cms) deep will have to be placed in the hold.

UK bans laptops in cabin luggage in flights from:
• Turkey
• Lebanon
• Jordan
• Egypt
• Tunisia
• Saudi Arabiahttps://t.co/6liwNgEAe9

— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) March 21, 2017

It follows hot on the heels of similar security measures being introduced in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security cited the “2015 airliner downing in Egypt, the 2016 attempted airliner downing in Somalia, and the 2016 armed attacks against airports in Brussels and Istanbul” as amongst the incidents which led to the decision to restrict the range of electronic devices which passengers can bring into airline cabins.

10-month-old Darina Gromova was the youngest among 224 passengers on Russian A321 that went down in Sinai. pic.twitter.com/rwkbphANLF

— Vera Van Horne (@VeraVanHorne) November 1, 2015

“Evaluated intelligence indicates that terrorist groups continue to target commercial aviation and are aggressively pursuing innovative methods to undertake their attacks, to include smuggling explosive devices in various consumer items,” the statement continued.

“Based on this information, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly and Transportation Security Administrator Acting Administrator Huban Gowadia have determined it is necessary to enhance security procedures for passengers at certain last point of departure airports to the United States.”

U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who pledged to “bomb the hell out of” the Salafist terror organisation during his election campaign, is having his team “develop a comprehensive plan” to dismantle Islamic State, details of which may be discussed at the summit.