Liquid explosives terror threat real – Russian ex-KGB officer

(RIA Novosti) - Terrorist attacks using liquid explosives represent a very real threat, a former KGB officer said Thursday.

Fears of such attacks were provoked in Europe after an alleged plot to perpetrate a series of bombings on board of U.S.-bound airliners was foiled in London earlier in the month. The British Department for Transport prohibited almost any liquid from being taken onto aircraft, reports Trend.

"The threat of terrorist acts using liquid explosive substances is real because instructions on how to make explosive devices are available on the Internet," Vladimir Kozlov, a retired officer with the Vympel special task force, told a Moscow news conference.

But he said Russia's security services were skilled in discovering explosive devices and praised the country's high level of transport security.

Commenting on President Vladimir Putin's order to hunt down and eliminate a terrorist group that killed employees of the Russian Embassy in Iraq in June, Kozlov said any self-respecting country had the right and a duty to conduct anti-terrorist operations overseas.

One Russian Embassy employee was shot dead in a June 3 attack in Baghdad and four others were kidnapped before being executed by an al-Qaeda linked cell.

He said special task groups of Russian secret services - the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Federal Security Service - had staff capable of accomplishing such missions.