Al Qaeda Threatens More U.S. Attacks

The organization threatens more attacks against the West and the 'Crusaders'and praises the young Nigerian extremist.

BEIRUT (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Al Qaeda claimed responsibility in an online statement for the failed plot to blow up a plane on Christmas Day and threatened more attacks against the West and the "Crusaders".

Last Friday, Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, tried to bring down an Airbus A330 with 290 people on board using a device containing PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a high explosive. The plane had left Amsterdam for Detroit.

The explosive material was sewn into his underwear and officials believe tragedy was averted only because the makeshift detonator failed to work properly before fellow passengers jumped on the would-be bomber and immobilised him.

Al Qaeda said that a "technical fault" caused the plot's failure, but praised the "Nigerian brother," boasting that he "was able to breach all the modern and sophisticated technologies and checkpoints at the airports around the world."

"His act has dealt a huge blow to the myth of American and global intelligence services and showed how fragile its structure is," the statement added.

US President Barack Obama has pledged that his administration "will not rest" until all those behind the alleged plot to bomb a US plane are brought to justice.

Obama has also ordered a review of US no-fly lists after it emerged that Abdulmutallab was on a broad terrorist watch-list of 500,000 names but still had a valid US visa.

His father had already informed US embassy officials in Abuja that he was concerned by his son's increasing radicalism.

US law enforcement officials said that the suspect confessed to receiving specific terrorist training in Yemen.

The Yemeni government has confirmed that Mr Abdulmutallab lived in the country between August and December, after obtaining a visa to study Arabic there.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is the son of a wealthy Nigerian businessman. He studied first in Togo, than in London where he enrolled in mechanical engineering. He later travelled to Egypt, Dubai and Yemen.