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British Home Secretary John Reid says that traces of radiation found at dozen sites in Britain, more planes probed in UK radiation alert, 68 people referred to medical authorities over fear of contamination; on deathbed, former agent said Russian President Putin had him killed

CNN news reported that the number of sites contaminated in the Russian spy radiation alert has doubled to around 12 and is likely to rise again, according to British Home Secretary John Reid.

He disclosed that a fourth and fifth jetliner have also been caught up in the scare -- although one was later given a clean bill of health.

UK government scientists are still pursuing one Russian aircraft to search for traces of alpha radiation -- the type emitted by polonium 210, the deadly radioactive element with which former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned.

In Moscow, meanwhile, doctors said they believed Yegor Gaidar, a former premier and head of a liberal opposition party, may have been poisoned during a conference last week in Ireland, his spokesman Valery Natarov told The Associated Press.

Gaidar, 50, became violently ill and was rushed to a hospital in Ireland, but was improving in a Moscow hospital Thursday.

Also on Thursday a coroner formally opened an inquest into the poisoning of Litvinenko, who died on November 23 after falling ill more than three weeks earlier. It was quickly adjourned so police could continue their investigation, but three pathologists were expected to participate in an autopsy Friday at Royal London Hospital.

Reid told the House of Commons that the total number of locations in London found to have been contaminated with radiation had doubled.

He said: "To date, around 24 venues have or are being monitored and experts have confirmed traces of contamination at around 12 of these venues."

Scotland Yard confirmed the identity of 11 of the 12 locations where traces of contamination have been discovered. These are -- all in London: the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly, the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Litvinenko's home, Barnet General Hospital, University College Hospital, 25 Grosvenor Street, 58 Grosvenor Street, 7 Down Street, the Sheraton Hotel in Park Lane and the two grounded BA aircraft at Heathrow. The identity of the 12th location is unclear.

As examinations of three British Airways aircraft continued, Reid said: "There is one other Russian plane that we know, that we think we would be interested in.

"There may be other aeroplanes of which we don't at this stage know."

Reid had during his remarks named a Boeing 737, leased by the Russian airline Transaero, as "of interest."

The Transaero jet arrived at Heathrow from Moscow on Thursday shortly before Reid's speech, but airline officials said no radioactivity was discovered aboard.

In Moscow, a spokesman for Transaero -- the private airline with two planes being examined in the investigation -- said one of their aircraft in London had been examined and no radiation was found.

The flight was cleared to leave, spokesman Sergei Byhal told CNN.

However, due to concerns voiced about the rest of the Transaero fleet, Byhal said, Russia's Emergencies Ministry would conduct radiation testing on all of their planes in Russia.

As for the British Airways plane at the Domodedovo airport in Moscow, a spokeswoman for Russia's Federal Consumer Rights and Human Well Being Service told CNN Thursday that samples were taken from it and delivered to a laboratory.

The results of those tests will be available Friday, she said.

Marina Shlyatova, British Airways spokeswoman in Moscow, said they are "waiting for confirmation from the British government that is not dangerous to fly back to London" before sending the Boeing 767 back to Heathrow.

British Airways has said that "the risk to public health is low," but it has published a list of the flights affected on its Web site and told customers on these flights to contact a special help-line set up by the Health Ministry.

BA said an estimated 33,000 passengers and 3,000 staff were involved in the alert relating to their aircraft, involving 221 flights to 10 destinations from October 25 to November 29. The airline said it was continuing to make every effort to contact those involved, adding that it had taken calls from 2,500 customers on a special helpline by 9:00 a.m. Thursday.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the former Russian spy's death is a "very, very serious" matter and that no "diplomatic or political" barrier will stand in the way of the police investigation.

At the opening of Litvinenko's inquest in London Thursday morning, his close friend Alex Goldfarb said the discovery of radioactivity on the BA flights further reinforced his suspicion that Moscow was behind the poisoning.

Ex-KGB man Litvinenko, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died last week. In his deathbed message, the former spy accused Putin of being behind his poisoning. The Kremlin has denied any responsibility.

Goldfarb told the UK's Press Association: "If you look at the flight numbers BA have released, the first flight they are interested in was five days before the poisoning -- the Moscow-Heathrow flight on October 25.

"This tells you that the police are looking for the ways of delivery of this material into London and this reinforces the theory that the origin of this material that killed Alexander was in Moscow.

"We still believe this is a murder perpetrated by agents of Russia's intelligence services."

Reid said there are between 130 and 150 sites in the United Kingdom where Polonium 210 might be used, but there were no reports of theft from any of the sites.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has said the health risk to tens of thousands of air passengers caught up in the radiation alert is likely to be extremely low.

Chief executive Pat Troop said that as alpha radiation cannot pass through skin or even paper, the risk of contamination is "likely to be low."

Source: CNN News