Bomb was only 17 minutes away from detonation: French minister

PARIS - One of the parcel bombs from Yemen found on US-bound cargo flights last week was only 17 minutes away from exploding when it was defused, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux said Thursday.

Two booby-trapped printer cartridges, suspected of having been prepared by people with links to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), were found in airports in Britain and Dubai.

Hortefeux avoided giving further details in the interview with the France 2 television channel.

He did, however, use the occasion to announce the arrests of two terror suspects.

It was not immediately clear when they were detained and which organisation they may have links to, but Hortefeux said they were being interrogated on suspicion of contacts with terrorist groups.

Currently, 27 of the 85 terrorism suspects arrested in France since the beginning of the year remain in prison.