Airport 'bomb' was test device

A laptop bag containing a detonator and clock found at Namibia's main airport during loading of a flight to Munich was only a security test device, German officials said yesterday, not a bomb as initially feared.

Police in Namibia, a former German colony bordering South Africa, confirmed it was an explosive simulation training device manufactured by a US company. The company's owner, Larry Copello, told Reuters by telephone from California: "Yes, it's ours."

But it was not yet known who planted the bag, Namibian authorities said.