国际英语新闻：U.S. says mail bombs from al-Qaida, could be more

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- A senior White House official said Sunday bombs found in parcels in U.S.-bound cargo planes were "an al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula effort," and there could be more out there.

In interviews with major U.S. TV networks, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan made the assessment, saying the Obama administration "can't presume that we have identified all of the packages that are out there."

"What we're trying to do now is work very closely with our partner overseas to identify all packages that left Yemen recently and to see whether there are any other suspicious packages out there that might contain these IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," he told ABC's "This Week."

Brennan said the device intercepted was "a very sophisticated device, in terms of how it was constructed, how it was concealed."

"It was a viable device. It was self-contained, so it could have been detonated and activated," Brennan told NBC television's "Meet the Press," adding that officials are trying to determine whether the planes or the synagogues were the intended targets.

Speaking of the al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, he told cnn's "State of the Union" that the United States "will destroy that organization as we are going to destroy the rest of al-Qaida."

The failed terror plot, in which two suspicious packages were found Thursday night on cargo planes originated from Yemen and destined for the United States, has spurred security scare across the Atlantic.