Armed police patrol UK airports amid terror alert

Following the release of a purported audio tape from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden -- blamed for the 2001 suicide hijack attacks -- Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said security checks on aircraft and passengers were vital, but that terror alerts should not paralyse normal life.

"We have to put safety first....but we have to ensure that the world goes on," Straw told BBC radio.

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"There is no question that the al-Qaeda organisation and its networks are still around, that's palpable, and so far as we know Osama bin Laden is still alive."

A spokesman for British Airports Authority said Heathrow was on a "heightened level of security with high levels of police patrolling" but British Airways said it did not expect terror alerts to force flight cancellations Monday.

Police armed with machine guns stood guard at Heathrow's terminal four, where flight BA233 was due to take off for Washington's Dulles airport at around 1500 GMT.

The flight had been grounded Thursday and Friday due to security alerts, and was delayed Saturday and Sunday due to extra security checks.

As passengers waited to board the Washington flight on Sunday, a dozen Special Branch detectives questioned each one and checked their travel documents. The aircraft landed without incident in Washington early yesterday.

Another London flight, to the Saudi capital Riyadh, was canceled Saturday, also due to a security alert and flights from Mexico and France to the United States were also canceled over the holiday period amid fears of attacks.

A British Airways spokesman told Reuters both Riyadh flight BA263 and the Washington flight BA223 from London were "due to operate as normal" from Heathrow Monday.

Straw said any flight cancellations would be rare but would be justified by "specific intelligence."

"When there is fine judgment to be made, we come down on the side of passenger safety, and no one would forgive us if we failed to do that."

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said Sunday that travelers face years of security alerts.

"For many years to come, we are going to be living in an age where there is going to be a heightened state of alert. Sometimes it will be quite severe," he added.