'Search is on for al-Qaeda bomber'

"I can confirm to you that we are looking for someone. I can't tell you any more than that," Justice Minister Dominique Perben told French RMC Info radio.

US television network ABC News reported on Tuesday that a search had been launched for the man.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

The network said US law enforcement officials believed he had connections with al-Qaeda and had undergone "terrorist" training in Afghanistan.

Concerns about the man, who was travelling with a French passport, was one of the factors contributing to security jitters about transatlantic flights, ABC News quoted unnamed officials as saying.

A source in Paris close to the affair said the suspect was an Afghan national whose name -- Abdoulaye -- bore a phonetic resemblance to that of a man captured by US forces in Afghanistan but who managed to escape.

The US authorities noted the resemblance and informed their French counterparts.

The man's birthday and birthplace were not known, the source said.

French officials fear the suspect may have a small bomb whose components might get past airport security, the network said.