EU to gather experts, ministers after bomb plot

HELSINKI, Aug 11 (Reuters) EU president Finland said today it would convene a meeting of EU experts on aviation security and counter-terrorism in Brussels after British authorities thwarted a suspected plot to blow up planes.

Kari Rajamaki, Finland's interior minister, and the EU Commission's Vice-President Franco Frattini, responsible for home affairs in the European Union, decided the meeting would be held next week.

''The aim is that experts will go through the situation in aviation security. Are the regulations in place? Are communications, both on EU and national level synchronised? Are there bottlenecks which should be solved on the union level?'' Finnish State Secretary Kari Salmi said.

Today, Britain named 19 people suspected of an Islamist plot to blow up transatlantic airliners and ordered their assets frozen. Two dozen suspects were arrested yesterday.

US officials said suspected suicide bombers were just days from simultaneous attacks on up to 10 aircraft flying from Britain to the United States, raising the spectre of strikes to rival the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Finland said it also planned, after the experts' conference, to arrange a meeting of ministers responsible for internal security to discuss further measures.

The meeting would be attended by the ministers of the interior from Finland and Germany, which holds the next EU presidency, Commissioner Frattini and British Home Secretary John Reid. Other ministers may also attend.

Salmi said the exact dates of the meetings were not yet decided.

REUTERS DKA RAI2207