Gatwick and London's other major airport at Heathrow were closed for about two hours last night in a security alert following coded warnings (see Page 6).

The alert followed three mortar attacks in five days, the most recent yesterday morning, in which 12 shells were fired at Heathrow but failed to explode.

No one has been hurt but traffic has been severely disrupted. Flights were being diverted to Birmingham, Stansted and Luton airports north of London, and Southampton south of London. Thousands of people from countries around the world have been affected.

In Bermuda, BA spokesman Ms Sallie Singleton said Saturday night's flight from Bermuda carrying 216 passengers landed safely at Gatwick at about 6.30 a.m.

London time. Gatwick was not closed until about 7 p.m.

It was too soon to say whether tomorrow's flight from Bermuda to London would be affected.