Mumbai-bound plane turned back to Amsterdam

London, Aug 23: A Mumbai-bound passenger plane was today turned back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport flanked by two F-16 fighter jets even as the world was still recovering from the shock of the foiled attempt in Britain to blow up US bound airliners with liquid explosives.

Reuters said the incident was a fallout of ''worrying passenger behaviour.'' The Northwest Airlines plane was heading for Mumbai when the pilot took the decision to turn back to Germany, officials said.

No details have been given about why this decision was made. An airport police spokesman said a number of people on the Northwest Airlines flight were being questioned, but added there had been no arrests. ''A certain number of passengers are being heard as witnesses to get a clearer picture of what happened,'' Rik Hirs said.

The office of the national terrorism co-ordinator has been informed of the incident, but said there was no reason to upgrade the country's terror alert level. ''It is the same as it was before - light threat,'' spokeswoman Judith Sluiter said.

Earlier, the airport spokeswoman Mirjam Snoerwang said the passengers had been escorted from the plane by customs police after the plane landed safely. ''A number of suspects were taken off the plane but don't know how many. They're undergoing questioning now,'' she said.

Reuters adds from Amsterdam: A U S Northwest Airlines plane bound for Mumbai was turned back to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport today accompanied by Dutch fighter planes due to worrying passenger behaviour, officials said.

UNI