'Groping' row over US airport checks

An urgent review is under way at US airports today after hundreds of women complained that security staff were using the terror threat as an excuse to grope them.

The new searches include patting around the groin, buttocks and breasts, often carried out by male staff.

So far 250 official complaints have been made to the Transport Security Administration, responsible for America's 450 airports. It is feared many more women have not reported their complaints.

The searches were introduced in September after a terror attack in Russia destroyed two planes and killed 90 people. Investigators suspect two Chechen women smuggled explosives through customs and security checks onto the planes by wearing them strapped around their abdomens.