Bomb scares target Pakistan jets bound for UK, Malaysia Published duration 7 September 2011

image caption The UK-bound Pakistan International Airlines plane landed at Istanbul's Ataturk airport

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) says two of its passenger planes have been the subject of a bomb threat.

Flight PK709, a Boeing 777 carrying 347 passengers plus crew and bound for Manchester from Lahore, was forced to land at Ataturk International airport in Istanbul, Turkey.

The second plane, carrying 176 passengers, landed safely at its destination in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

PIA said the threats to the jets were made in Pakistan.

A PIA spokesman, Capt Tasneem Mozaffar, told the Press Association news agency: "When you have 500 people in the air you have to take the safest option."

Some reports said the threats in Pakistan were made byfired back that he was preparing a sworn statement of his own and was willing to testify before Congressional investigators, just as Simpson has.

Is Riley serious or merely bluffing? It seems he might have some difficulty answering certain questions under oath. For example, two of his colleagues on the conference call described by Simpson (Terry Butts and Bill Canary), have denied the conversation with Simpson took place. If clear evidence exists that the conversation did take place, doesn't that put Rob Riley in a tough spot?

Also, Riley has stated in published reports that, at one point, he hadn't seen Simpson in "13 or 14 years" and, while she might have called his office, he could not recall any conversation with her. But Glynn Wilson of Locust Fork World