Passenger Ignites Explosive on Delta Flight, Al Qaeda Connection Reported

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,581153,00.html

Passenger Ignites Explosive on Delta Flight, Al Qaeda Connection Reported

Friday, December 25, 2009

 A male passenger reportedly linked to terrorist organization al-Qaeda ignited a powdery substance prior to landing on a Delta Airlines flight to Detroit Friday. The suspect is believed to be Nigerian, Fox News reported.

Several people were hurt and one person was admitted to the University of Michigan Medical Center at Ann Arbor, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. An emergency was declared aboard the flight, operated as Northwest flight 253, according to a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson.

The suspect, who suffered second-degree burns, told federal investigators he was directed by al-Qaeda, though authorities are questioning the veracity of that statement, ABC reported. A federal situational awareness bulletin noted that the explosive was acquired in Yemen with instructions as to when it should be used, ABC said.

The FBI was on the scene, Detroit office spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold told NewsCore. Berchtold declined to comment on the reports of a terrorist connection.

All 278 passengers on the Airbus A330 wide-body jet, which landed at 11:53 a.m. local time, have since deplaned at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Delta spokesperson Susan Elliott said.

"Out of an abundance of caution, the plane was moved to a remote area where the plane and all baggage are currently being rescreened. A passenger is in custody and passengers are being interviewed," the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if the suspect was subdued by crew or passengers.

Airport spokesman Mike Conway referred all questions to the FBI

[MuffyBee]

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. raises terrorism alert level for airline flights to orange after Detroit incident
Edit:  Correction. News organizations, including msnbc.com, initially reported that the government had raised the terrorism alert for flights after the incident. Those reports were inaccurate; the flight alert had been at orange before the incident.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Officials: Possible terror attack on Northwest jet
Nigerian man tries to light powdery substance on Detroit flight, officials say

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 37 minutes ago
A 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to light a powdery substance aboard a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in Detroit on Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News.

Two people noticed the attempt and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News.

The man is being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.

The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said.

The man was subdued by the crew of Flight 253 from Amsterdam, one counterterrorism official said. The official said the man left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, then boarded the Northwest flight in Amsterdam on Friday.

Flight 253 was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport and all passengers deplaned and were rescreened along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said.

President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are treating this as a possible terrorist attack and are taking it “very seriously,” counterterrorism officials said. An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure there no similar attacks, Burton said.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.

On Dec. 22, 2001, passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdued a man who was attempting to detonate explosives in his sneakers. Richard Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cousin, Ramzi Yousef, were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/explosives-northwest-airlines-plane-amsterdam-detroit/story?id=9423871


Man Attempts to Set Off Explosives on Detroit-Bound Airplane
Suspect Claims al Qaeda Terrorism Link, but FBI, Investigators Are Suspicious
By RICHARD ESPOSITO and SCOTT MAYEROWITZ
Dec. 25, 2009


Northwest Airlines flight 253 is shown on the runway after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Amsterdam on Friday. A passenger aboard the plane set off an explosive device, causing a commotion and some minor injuries, a Delta official said. Northwest is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta. Collapse
(J.P. Karas/AP Photo)

Federal officials and police are interviewing a Nigerian man, who allegedly tried to "explode" a powdery substance aboard a Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, injuring himself and two other passengers, law enforcement officials said.
The man said he was directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight, over U.S. soil, ABC News has learned. Authorities have no corroboration of that information, and the credibility of the suspect's statements are being questioned, officials said.

The suspect was identified as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who according to federal documents is an engineering student at University College of London.

He was flying from Nigeria to the United States for a religious ceremony, according to his entry visa, which was issued June 16, 2008 and was good until June 12, 2010.

The government had no immediate plans after the incident to raise the threat level, a federal government source said.

The suspect had been in a law enforcement-intelligence database but was not on the government's no-fly list, according to a law enforcement official.
"The subject is claiming to have extremist affiliation and that the device was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used," a federal situational awareness bulletin stated.
Delta spokeswoman Susan Chana Elliott said that "as the plane was getting ready to land" in Detroit "a passenger caused a disturbance" by trying to ignite what was initially reported to be firecrackers.

The man was "subdued immediately," Elliott said. Northwest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.

The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques.

Northwest Airlines flight 253 landed safely in Detroit at 11:53 a.m. The man, who flew from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then Detroit, was taken into custody at the Detroit airport and was interviewed by authorities there. He was then taken to an area hospital to be treated for burns.


An official wearing anti-explosive protection boards a plane where a man allegedly attempted to set off explosives on a Northwest Airlines plane.
(ABC News)
An in-flight emergency was declared when a fire indicator light when on in the cockpit, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The pilot asked for airport rescue and firefighting services, and for law enforcement to meet the flight at gate, the TSA said.

It is unclear how powerful the explosive could have been and what the man's intentions were. Initial reports were that fireworks or firecrackers had gone off on the plane.

The man suffered second-degree burns, which is consistent with a small fireworks device, police sources said.

One of the passengers is being treated at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, according to hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice, who was not sure if it was the suspect or one of the other passengers.
Man Tried to Ignite Explosives on Plane, Law Enforcement Says

Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Sandra R. Berchtold from the Detroit office confirmed that the FBI was at the airport, but she would not comment further.

"All passengers have deplaned and out of an abundance of caution, the plane was moved to a remote area where the plane and all baggage are currently being rescreened," the Transportation Security Administration, which handles aircraft and airplane safety, said in a statement. "A passenger is in custody and passengers are being interviewed."

The aircraft was an Airbus A330-200, twin-engine jet carrying 278 passengers.

President Obama was notified of the incident by his military aide between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Detroit time or 9 a.m. in Hawaii, where the Obamas are vacationing, according to White House spokesman Bill Burton.

The president subsequently convened a secure conference call with John Brennan, his Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism adviser, and Denis McDonough, acting chief of staff for the National Security Council.
<snipped>

[MuffyBee]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2009-12-25/obama-orders-heightened-security-after-disturbance-on-plane.html
Obama Orders Heightened Security After Disturbance on Plane
December 25, 2009, 06:32 PM EST
By Martin Z. Braun and Sean B. Pasternak

Dec. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama ordered heightened security after authorities detained a passenger who may have tried to blow up a flight bound for Detroit from Amsterdam with 278 passengers.
 The passenger was trying to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253, and an explosive device failed, the Associated Press reported, citing U.S. intelligence officials it didn’t name. The passenger was subdued and the incident resulted in “minor injuries,” said Susan Elliott, a spokeswoman for Northwest parent Delta Air Lines Inc. in Atlanta.

Obama called for “all appropriate measures to be taken to increase security” after the incident, the White House said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security said passengers may notice additional screening at airports.

The plane was moved to a remote area, and authorities interviewed passengers and rescreened luggage after the Airbus 330 landed at about 11:53 a.m. local time, the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement.
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126178158688405369.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

Midair Bomb Attempt Fails
Man on Flight to Detroit Claims Al Qaeda Ties; Obama Tightens Security

By PETER SPIEGEL, ANDY PASZTOR and NEAL E. BOUDETTE
 DETROIT -- A passenger on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight tried to detonate an explosive device that was strapped to his leg and later told investigators that he was trying to blow up the plane and had affiliations with al Qaeda, according to a senior U.S. official.

The man, who has not been publicly identified by officials, told investigators that he was given the device by Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen, where he was also given instructions on how to detonate it, the official said. The Associated Press reported that Rep. Peter King (R., N.Y.) has identified the man as a Nigerian named Abdul Mudallad.

"This guy claims he is tied to al Qaeda, specifically in Yemen," the official said. "He claims he was on orders from al Qaeda in Yemen. Who knows if that's true."

Bill Burton, a White House spokesman, said President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was notified of the incident after 9 a.m. local time, and held two secure conference calls with his national security team to discuss the incident, but that his schedule had not changed.

"The president is actively monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates," Mr. Burton said.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that airline passengers should expect to see additional screening measures put in place on both domestic and international flights.

An FBI spokeswoman, Denise Ballew, would only say that the Detroit field office is investigating the incident and would release more information "when it is appropriate."

The explosive, which was apparently carried onto the flight from its originating airport in Amsterdam, was originally believed to be a small firecracker, but the U.S. official said the device was "more complicated than gunpowder firecracker" and caught fire as the man tried to set it off.

One person was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center and was still hospitalized Friday evening. "All I know is it was one person treated from the incident," said U of M Health System spokeswoman Tracy Justice. "Everything else is being handled by the FBI."

Shortly after the plane landed around 11:50 a.m. Detroit time, the Transportation Security Administration put out a statement indicating that "out of an abundance of caution" the jet's passengers were going through a special security screening and the luggage in the hold also was being re-examined.

TSA and FBI officials were interviewing passengers, even as the plane sat at a remote corner of the airport surrounded by a phalanx of law-enforcement and emergency vehicles.

The Federal Aviation Administration was referring all questions to the TSA.

The additional security measures ordered by TSA could cause further delays to what already has been a difficult and storm-battered holiday travel season for millions of U.S. passengers. More-extensive airport screening procedures, coupled with likely stepped-up verifications of some passenger identities, could complicate post-Christmas travel.

Regardless of what the investigation uncovers about the suspect's motives or the material that ignited, Friday's incident is likely to renew debate over whether additional security systems are necessary to allow flight attendants to alert cockpit crews about cabin emergencies.

In addition to calling pilots on the intercom, airlines and security experts for years have debated the concept of providing cabin crews with additional ways to warn pilots about potential threats from passengers, Video cameras, wireless alerting devices or some type of discreet alarm switch have all been discussed.

So far, the Federal Aviation Administration and many airlines have been resisting such mandates, arguing that they would be expensive and unnecessary.

Write to Peter Spiegel at peter.spiegel@wsj.com, Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com and Neal E. Boudette at neal.boudette@wsj.com

[MuffyBee]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126178658938805419.html?mod=article-outset-box
    * DECEMBER 25, 2009, 7:22 P.M. ET

Suspect Identified as Nigerian Man


By CAM SIMPSON

The passenger who allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device on a Northwester Airlines flight was identified by authorities as Abdul Mudallad, a 23-year-old Nigerian national, according to Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican who is the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Mr. King spoke in an interview with The Wall Street Journal after he was briefed by authorities.

Mr. King said the suspect's name did not appear on any of the terrorist watch lists maintained by U.S. authorities, but that the Nigerian national did turn up "hot" in other terrorism-related databases maintained by intelligence officials.

There's definitely a terrorist nexus -- that's the term being used by the people I'm talking to in Washington," Mr. King said following his briefings Friday. He would not say, however, whether there was a direct link to al Qaeda.

Mr. King said the explosive device allegedly strapped to Mr. Mudallad's leg was technologically advanced and potentially devastating. "This was not a firecracker," Mr. King said. "The device was fairly sophisticated."

He also said authorities were scrambling to find out where a security breach might have occurred. The plane departed from Lagos, Nigeria, and had a stopover in Amsterdam before flying to Detroit, according to Mr. King. He also said there was no intelligence indicating it was part of a wider plot involving other attempted attacks, but that authorities weren't taking any chances.

Mr. Mudallad suffered 3rd-degree burns when the device detonated on approach to Detroit, according to Mr. King. He said none of the other passengers was seriously injured.

Write to Cam Simpson at cam.simpson@wsj.com

[MuffyBee]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2513625920091226?type=marketsNews
US says explosion on plane was terrorism attempt

WASHINGTON, Dec 25 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities believe an incident involving a small explosion aboard a Delta-Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit on Friday was an attempted act of terrorism, a White House official said.
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/091225_passenger_tried_to_blow_up_airliner
Al-Qaida Link in Failed Plane Attack

Updated: Friday, 25 Dec 2009, 6:54 PM CST
Published : Friday, 25 Dec 2009, 5:42 PM CST

WASHINGTON - U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit.

A White House official says the airline incident was an attempted act of terrorism.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.

The passenger was being questioned Friday evening. Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear.

A U.S. national security official says the man appeared to have "some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite." Authorities initially believed the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor injuries.

A Delta Air Lines spokeswoman says the passenger was subdued immediately. Delta is the owner of Northwest.

One passenger says the incident took place during the plane's descent. He says he was seated three rows behind the passenger, and saw a glow and noticed a smoke smell. He says a young man who'd been sitting behind him then jumped on the man with the device.   

He says, "Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic." The White House says President Barack Obama has been notified, and discussed the incident with security officials. It says he's getting regular updates at his vacation spot in Hawaii.

 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Terrorist attack foiled aboard U.S. jetliner
Nigerian allegedly tries to ignite powder on flight but is subdued
(Video avail. at link above)
December 25, 2009
msnbc.com and NBC News
updated less than 1 minute ago
ROMULUS, Mich. - A Nigerian man tried to light a powder aboard a commercial jetliner before it landed Friday in Detroit in what senior U.S. officials called an attempted act of terrorism.

The man had “some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite” in a bag strapped to his body, U.S. officials told NBC News. Other officials told NBC station WDIV-TV of Detroit that the device was a mixture of powder and liquid, which failed to ignite when the passenger tried to detonate it during the plane’s descent into Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

Two people saw the attempted attack, and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News. The man was being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.
Federal officials identified the man as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, of Nigeria, who was traveling one way, without a return ticket. Dawn Griffith, who was waiting for her husband on the plane, said she saw the man being carted away on a gurney or bed, with his bandaged hands handcuffed to the railing.

Rep. Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, who was briefed on the incident, said Abdulmutallab was known in federal counterterrorism files and may have been on the government’s list of suspicious passengers banned from flying in the United States.

King said the incident raised troubling questions about airline security. “It must be looked into” how Abdulmutallab was able to sneak a “somewhat sophisticated device” on board, he said.

Abdulmutallab told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States, counterterrorism officials said.

A counterterrorism official said Abdulmutallab, who was subdued by the crew of Northwest Air Lines Flight 253 from Amsterdam, left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday and boarded the flight in Amsterdam on Friday.

The timing of the attempted attack could be significant. It was eight years ago this week that a similar attempted attack was launched by a British member of al-Qaida who tried to blow up a flight from Paris to Miami by igniting explosives in his shoes. And the attempted attack comes on the same day that the Taliban released a video of a U.S. soldier it is holding captive in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaida was responsible for the attacks that killed more than 3,000 people in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

News organizations, including msnbc.com, initially reported that the government had raised the terrorism alert for flights after the incident. Those reports were inaccurate; the flight alert had been at orange before the incident. Corrrection Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/


There was nothing out of the ordinary until Flight 253, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers, was on final approach to Detroit. Although the jet bore the insignia of Delta Airlines, it was operated by Northwest.

Then came the disturbance in the passenger cabin, and that is when the pilot declared an emergency, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, in an e-mail message. The plane landed without incident at 11:51 a.m. ET.
he Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane had been taken to a remote area of the Detroit airport and that all passengers had left the plane and were rescreened, along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said, before they were allowed to go on their way.

President Barack Obama, who is on vacation in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the White House.

An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure that there no similar attacks, Burton said. Officials would not discuss the security measures, but they said passengers across the country should expect some delays Friday night.

.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.

In addition, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and his cousin Ramzi Yousef were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-detroit-airline26-2009dec26,0,7667849.story

Plane incident called an act of terrorism
Federal authorities say a Nigerian passenger on an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight tried to blow up the airliner, which landed safely. The would-be bomber is injured.


By Sebastian Rotella

December 26, 2009

<snip>
The FBI is expected to focus on whether the Nigerian acted alone or had training from Al Qaeda or another network. There will be great interest also in the nature and destructive capacity of the explosive device and on how it got past airport security screeners.

Nigerians have not figured in many cases involving Al Qaeda, but the rise of violent Islamic extremism in that country, and in sub-Saharan Africa overall, concerns Western anti-terrorism officials.

The timing and description of the incident recall the attempted attack on a Paris-to-Miami flight eight years ago by "shoe-bomber" Richard Reid, a British Al Qaeda operative who was convicted in U.S. federal court of trying to blow up the American Airlines flight.

Soon after takeoff from Paris on Dec. 22, 2001, Reid tried to ignite explosives that had been packed into his high-top gym shoes in an attempt to blow a hole in the plane. A flight attendant and passenger subdued Reid and foiled the attack, which spread fear across the world just three months after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Reid was one of several bombers whom Al Qaeda trained in its Afghan camps to commit attacks aboard planes carrying concealed explosives.
<snip>

[San]

Thank you Muffy for all the updates.

[MuffyBee]

Thank you Muffy for all the updates.

YW San.  I was thinking maybe they should just take this guy back up in an airplane and then push him out.  That would cure some of this kind of shenanigans 

[MuffyBee]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8430872.stm
Met Police search London flat in US plane attack probe
Page last updated at 14:03 GMT, Saturday, 26 December 2009

Forensic officers have been searching the mansion block in central London

Police are conducting searches at a mansion block in London in connection with the inquiry into an attempted act of terrorism on a US passenger plane.

Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, a Nigerian being held after the flight to Detroit, is thought to have been a student at University College London.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the UK would take "whatever action was necessary" to protect passengers.

UK airport operator BAA said searches on flights to the US would increase.
<snip>

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the British authorities were informed of a possible connection to the UK on Thursday evening.

The MI5 and police teams assigned to the case are trying ascertain first of all whether the reported identification is correct, our correspondent said.

It is understood one of their key priorities will also be to check whether the arrested man has cropped up in the course of any other investigations.

BBC News correspondent Richard Slee said there was fairly low-key police activity at the last known address of Mr Abdulmutallab, a basement flat in a smart mansion block near Harley Street in central London.
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 plane
The plane was carrying 278 passengers

Reporting from the scene, he said police forensic officers have been seen going into the building on Mansfield Street.

A blue English Heritage plaque states that philanthropist Sir Robert Mayer once lived there.

The Metropolitan Police said its officers were liaising with the US authorities.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "We are in liaison with the US authorities.

"Searches are being carried out at addresses in central London."
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/us/27plane.html
Governments React After Terror Attempt on Airplane

By ANAHAD O’CONNOR and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 26, 2009

<snip>
It was unclear how the suspect managed to get the explosive on the plane, an Airbus A330 wide-body jet carrying 278 passengers that departed from Amsterdam with passengers who had originated in Nigeria. A senior administration official said that the government did not yet know whether the man had had the capacity to take down the plane.

The device, described by officials as a mixture of powder and liquid, failed to fully detonate. Passengers on the plane described a series of pops that sounded like firecrackers.

Federal officials said the man wanted to bring the plane down.

“This was the real deal,” said Representative Peter T. King of New York, the ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said on Saturday. He was briefed on the incident and said something had gone wrong with the explosive device, which he described as somewhat sophisticated. “This could have been devastating,” Mr. King said.

The incident is likely to lead to heightened security during the busy holiday season.

“We’re trying to ascertain exactly what he had and what he thought he was doing, but our sense is he wanted to wreak some havoc here and was attempting to do just that,” the official said. “Whether at the end of the day he had the ability to do that is what I think we’ll be able to pull together over the next several days as we investigate this.”

A senior Department of Homeland Security official said that the materials Mr. Abdulmutallab had on him were “more incendiary than explosive,” and that he had tried to ignite them to cause a fire as the airliner was approaching Detroit.

Mr. Abdulmutallab told law enforcement authorities, the official said, that he had had explosive powder taped to his leg and that he had mixed it with chemicals held in a syringe.

A federal counterterrorism official who asked not to be identified said Mr. Abdulmutallab was apparently in a government law enforcement-intelligence database, but it is not clear what extremist group or individuals he might be linked to.

“It’s too early to say what his association is,” the counterterrorism official said. “At this point, it seems like he was acting alone, but we don’t know for sure.” Although Mr. Abdulmutallab is said to have told officials that he was directed by Al Qaeda, the counterterrorism official expressed caution about that claim, saying “it may have been aspirational.”

The incident unfolded just before noon. “There was a pop that sounded like a firecracker,” said Syed Jafry, a passenger who said he had been sitting three rows ahead of the suspect. A few seconds later, he said, there was smoke and “some glow” from the suspect’s seat and on the left side of the plane.

“There was a panic,” said Mr. Jafry, 57, of Holland, Ohio. “Next thing you know everybody was on him.” He said the passengers and the crew subdued the man.

The suspect was brought by the crew to the front of the plane — Northwest Airlines Flight 253, bearing Delta’s name — and the plane made its descent into Detroit Metropolitan Airport, landing at 11:53 a.m. (The two airlines merged last year.) Once on the ground, it was immediately guided to the end of a runway, where it was surrounded by police cars and emergency vehicles and searched by a bomb-disabling robot.

Sandra Berchtold, a spokeswoman with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Detroit office, said F.B.I. agents were at the scene Friday night and were investigating the matter.

One federal official who requested anonymity said Mr. Abdulmutallab had suffered severe burns but was expected to survive. A Michigan state official confirmed that he was being treated at the University of Michigan hospital in Ann Arbor.

<snip>
Mr. King, of the Homeland Security Committee, said there was no indication at this point that anyone else was involved, but he said officials would look back to see if any intelligence signals were missed. “For a while now we have had real concerns about Al Qaeda or terrorist connections in Nigeria,” he said.

Of the device used on Friday, he said, “It appears to be different from explosive devices that have been used before. That is perhaps why it escaped detection. Maybe that is why it made it through.”
<snip>














 



 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34592031/ns/us_news-security/

Attack suspect
Man tries to blow up plane over Detroit, passengers and officials say

December 26, 2009
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 39 minutes ago

ROMULUS, Mich. - A prominent Nigerian banker said he's meeting with security officials because he fears his son may have been the man who allegedly tried to bomb a U.S.-bound flight.

Former bank official Alhaji Umaru Mutallab says he traveled from his home in Nigeria's Muslim-dominated north to meet officials in Abuja, the capital. The elder Mutallab says his son, identified by U.S. officials as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, was a student in London. He said his son left London to travel, though he did not know where to.

"I believe he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that,"  Mutallab said.
<snip>
Melinda Dennis, who was seated in the front row of the plane, said the man involved was brought to the front row and seated near her. She said his legs appeared to be badly burned and his pants were cut off. She said he was taken off the plane handcuffed to a stretcher.

One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. intelligence database, but he was not on a watch list or a no-fly list.

The suspect boarded in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit, Peter King, the ranking Republican member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. A spokeswoman for police at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam declined comment about the case or about security procedures at the airport for Flight 253.

Dutch airline KLM says the connection in Amsterdam from Lagos, Nigeria, to Detroit involves a change in carrier and a change in aircraft.

Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest with a heavy load of transit passengers from Africa and Asia to North America, strictly enforces European security regulations including only allowing small amounts of liquid in hand luggage that must be placed inside clear plastic bags.
<snip>
University College London issued a statement saying a student named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab studied mechanical engineering there between September 2005 and June 2008. But the college said it wasn't certain the student was the same person who was on the plane.
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/26/airline.attack/?imw=Y

Terror suspect is son of Nigerian banker, family says
December 26, 2009 -- Updated 1934 GMT (0334 HKT)

A photo of suspect being taken into custody on the plane and several videos are available at the link, along with the article.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30980.html

Accused bomber used 'high explosive'

By POLITICO STAFF | 12/26/09 4:29 PM EST


The U.S. charged a 23-year-old Nigerian man with attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft on its final approach to Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day, and with placing a destructive device on the aircraft, the Justice Department announced.

The announcement said the device contained PETN (pentaerythritol), which the Justice Department called “a high explosive.”
<snip>

[MuffyBee]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/27/airline.terror.suspect/

Terror suspect out of hospital, held at undisclosed location
December 27, 2009 -- Updated 1940 GMT (0340 HKT)

(CNN) -- Airline bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was out of a Michigan hospital Sunday as investigators tried to determine how the son of a Nigerian bank executive ended up carrying what authorities said were explosives onto a Detroit-bound jetliner.

Abdulmutallab, 23, is charged with trying to set off an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from the Netherlands shortly before its landing in Detroit on Christmas Day.

He was released from a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after being treated for burns suffered in the attack and was being held in an undisclosed location, according to Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit.
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[MuffyBee]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BQ1TE20091227

Nigeria bomber's home town blames foreign schooling


Sahabi Yahaya
FUNTUA, Nigeria
Sun Dec 27, 2009 4:26pm EST

FUNTUA, Nigeria (Reuters) - For residents in his home town, it was Umar Abdulmutallab's foreign education, not his roots in Muslim northern Nigeria, that radicalized him and led him to try to blow up a U.S. passenger plane
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[klaasend]

Sorry, couldn't help myself