New Warning to British Travellers

The Foreign Office warned British travellers yesterday of a "clear" or "high" risk of terrorist attacks in Morocco, the sixth such warning for an African country.

Foreign Office advice not to make non-essential trips applies only to Kenya, but the transport secretary, Alistair Darling, may have raised the travelling public's anxiety by insisting that armed sky marshals would be deployed on British aircraft "if necessary."

The proposal was greeted with dismay by airlines when it was first mooted last December. They described the idea as "irresponsible, dangerous and ill-conceived".

The marshals, believed to number around 20, are police firearms experts carrying handguns with low-velocity bullets.

Marshals have been used by the Israeli airline El Al for nearly 30 years and 6,000 have been trained in America since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

No one at the Department of Transport, the Metropolitan police or the airlines would say yesterday whether any had actually been on an aircraft.

But a spokeswoman for British Airways said: "We remain concerned about the use of any kind of firearms on any aircraft. We believe the way to prevent problems on an aircraft is to have stringent procedures in place on the ground."

Any use of marshals would have to be cleared with an airline in advance. But the pilot, as the person ultimately responsible for passenger safety, could refuse to take off.

After the suicide attacks in Morocco and the suspension of all BA flights to Kenya on Thursday, the Metropolitan police said there was no specific intelligence about terrorist threats in the UK but the security alert remained at a "high level". In the foyer of Scotland Yard, however, the routine warning notice put it at "standard".

Africa has now become the most dangerous continent for British travellers either because of the terrorist threat or civil unrest. Travellers are advised against all travel to three countries: the Central African Republic, Liberia and Burundi. Of the 25 countries where there is some danger, 13 are in Africa.

Last week the warning about possible terrorist attacks was raised to a "clear" or "high" threat for Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda. Even for countries with no history of terrorism like Madagascar, the Foreign Office says: "You should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate terrorist attacks, in all countries of the world, against civilian targets in public places, including tourist sites."

British visitors to Morocco are now told: "You should maintain a high level of vigilance in public places such as hotels, restaurants and shopping malls and exercise good security practice."

A British businessman who escaped the terror attacks in Casablanca arrived back in Britain yesterday on a flight to Newcastle via Amsterdam. Mel Potter, 50, who works for a clothing company, was in the Moroccan city with three colleagues when the blast happened.

Mr Potter, from Durham, had been out for dinner with Tony Wilson, 51, from Peterlee, Brian Reed, 40, from Hartlepool, and a fourth man who did not want to be named, when a suicide bomber struck at the Hotel Safir, where they were staying.

They were returning from their meal when they heard the blast. Mr Potter said: "I don't really understand why they have done it and what they want out of doing it. Those people had gone into a hotel and actually killed Moroccan people.

"We were just coming out of the place where we had been to eat. People were saying 'it's a bomb, it's a bomb'. It was a bit of a panicky scene. I was 500 yards away at the time when it actually went up."

BA said it had rapidly coped with the problem of bringing holidaymakers home after its flights to and from Nairobi were suspended. A number of charters have been ferrying people to Entebbe in Uganda for BA connections to London. There are, as yet, no plans to lift the ban. British holiday companies have cancelled all bookings to Kenya until at least the end of this week.