Suspected Bomb Found on Air France Flight Nairobi to Paris

NAIROBI, Kenya –

Kenyan authorities say they are questioning several suspects who were on an Air France flight from Mauritius to Paris that was forced to land early Sunday in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa after a device suspected to be a bomb was found in a lavatory.

A few passengers are being questioned, said Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery, speaking at a press conference at the Mombasa airport. Bomb experts are inspecting the device to see if it was an explosive, he said.

A Kenyan police official said six passengers are being questioned. The police official, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said during the flight a passenger noticed something in a lavatory that looked like “a stopwatch mounted on a box.”

The passenger reported the device to the cabin crew, who informed the pilots, leading to an emergency landing at the airport in the Kenyan city of Mombasa. The official said one of those being interrogated is the man who reported the package.