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US authorities see Nigerian bomber’s connection with al Qaeda ‘plausible’ | Even though the US authorities are yet to confirm the Yemen connection of the 23-year-old Nigerian man’s plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, they see Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab ’s account that al Qaeda had supplied explosive powder to him in Yemen 'highly plausible'. On Saturday, the suspect reportedly told US
investigators
that he had obtained explosive chemicals and a syringe that were sewn into his
underwear from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al Qaeda, as part of a
"mission
to bring down a jet on US soil". A law enforcement official briefed on the
investigation
said that the suspect’s account was “plausible,” as he saw “no reason to discount
it,” The New York Times reports. Members of US Congress who were briefed on
the
matter also pointed to a Yemeni connection. “The facts are still emerging, but
there are strong suggestions of a Yemen-Al Qaeda connection and an intent to blow
up the plane over U.S. airspace,” said Jane Harman , a California Democrat who
leads the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence. FBI sources said
that said Abdulmutallab claimed a connection to the Qaeda affiliate, which operates
largely in Yemen and Saudi Arabia , by a radical Yemeni cleric whom he contacted
online. Meanwhile, the Yemeni Embassy in Washington said: “We have yet to
receive
official information on the incident. If and when the would-be bomber’s alleged
link to Yemen is officially identified, authorities will take immediate action.”
If the Yemeni link is proved, Abdulmutallab’s travel to that country for terrorist
instruction and explosives would highlight the emergence of that country as a
major hub for Al Qaeda. |
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