Jet made to land near Rome after report of bomb

ROME - An Italian Air Force fighter has forced a diplomatic jet with a reported bomb on board to land near Rome, where world leaders have just attended the funeral of Pope John Paul, an Air Force official says.

Checks at a military base revealed that there was no bomb on the plane, scheduled to pick up the Macedonian delegation to the funeral from Rome's Ciampino airport.

"We saw that there was no threat on board. We let them take off again to Ciampino, where the Macedonian delegation was waiting," an air force official told Reuters, adding the flight had departed from Belgrade with only crew on board.

The Air Force said it intercepted the plane at 3:34pm and forced it to land at 4:16pm.

Rome had tightened security to protect some 2,500 dignitaries, including at least 70 presidents and prime ministers, attending the Pope's funeral service at the Vatican.

Among measures taken were a no-fly zone over central Rome and surface-to-air missiles hidden in secret locations across the city, the military said.

An official statement from Belgrade indicated that, in a separate incident, Italian police also delayed the departure of the Serbia-Montenegro delegation to check for a bomb.

"The Serbia-Montenegro delegation ... was held up at Rome airport this afternoon because of an anonymous tip-off that an explosive device had been placed on the official plane," the statement said.

The Italian air force said it had been informed that there was a delay to the Serbia-Montenegro delegation, but had no further information.

- REUTERS