Report: British police probing plot find bag of bomb parts

LONDON -- Police searching woods for clues in an alleged plot to bomb trans-Atlantic passenger jets have found a suitcase containing components for an improvised explosive device, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported yesterday.

The BBC quoted an anonymous police source as saying a suitcase holding ``everything you would need to make an improvised device" had been uncovered in a stretch of woodland in High Wycombe, 30 miles northwest of London. The wood is near the home of one of two dozen suspects arrested Aug. 10 in the foiled bomb plot.

The Metropolitan Police refused to comment on the BBC report, saying it could not discuss anything found during the searches, which reportedly have uncovered several firearms and other items of interest.

Police said yesterday that they were searching 14 homes and businesses and had searched 49 locations since the Aug. 10 raids in London, High Wycombe, and Birmingham, central England.

On Wednesday, a judge gave police several more days to question 23 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in the plot. The judge said 21 of the suspects could be detained until at least Wednesday, and two others until at least Monday, before any new request is made to a judge.

Under British antiterrorism laws, detectives can make further requests to detain suspects for up to 28 days before they must be charged or released.

In Pakistan, meanwhile, a senior intelligence agent said yesterday that detained terror suspects there told interrogators that Al Qaeda's top leaders approved a plot to blow up planes from Britain to the United States.

Some of the suspects said number two-ranked Ayman al-Zawahri probably authorized the plan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the investigation.

Pakistani intelligence officials have said the would-be London plane bombers wanted to carry out a large, Qaeda-style coordinated attack to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.