Police are still hunting for a man who fled after his computer sparked a security alert at a German airport.

Part of Munich airport was closed for hours on Wednesday as the traveller's laptop set off an explosives detector.

Some 1,000 police spent the evening scouring the airport for the man who hastily left the security area with his laptop as the alarm was raised.

He may not have realised he was meant to undergo a further check, a police spokesman said.

Airports around the world have been on heightened alert since an alleged attempt to blow up a US airliner flying from Amsterdam to Detroit last month.

On Thursday, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is in Spain to discuss European airport security with EU ministers.

Wednesday's security breach was unacceptable, Germany's police union said, calling for a thorough investigation into security at German airports.

"If you're checking someone, you have to be able to hold onto him," Josef Scheuring, the union's chairman, told Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

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