FROM: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091229/world/international_us_security_airline_abdulmutallab
By Camillus Eboh
ABUJA (Reuters) - A Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a U.S. airliner told his parents he wanted to study Islamic sharia law in Yemen shortly before cutting off contact with them, the Nigerian government said on Tuesday.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, had been studying for a masters degree in Dubai when he told his parents he was going to Yemen to study Arabic for a few weeks, Nigerian Information Minister Dora Akunyili told reporters in the capital Abuja.
"After a few weeks he now sent a message to the parents that he wanted to stay back and study sharia for seven years and the father said no, you can't do that," Akunyili said.
"The father said they were not ready to send him school fees or money for upkeep, that he should go back to Dubai and complete his masters. (But Abdulmutallab) said he was going to get everything free," she said.
Abdulmutallab has been charged with trying to blow up a Delta Airlines plane as it approached Detroit on a flight from Amsterdam with almost 300 people on board.
A regional wing of al Qaeda said it was behind the failed Christmas Day bombing, which was meant to avenge U.S. attacks on the group in Yemen, according to a web statement.
"(This report) confirms what we have been saying, that the boy did not have backing from here," Akunyili said.
"The boy was not enlisted in Nigeria, was not trained in Nigeria, was not supported by Nigerians, not even by his parents," Akunyili said.
Abdulmutallab's family said in a statement on Monday they had lost contact with their son while he was studying abroad and reported his disappearance to Nigerian security agencies about two months ago and to foreign agencies a few weeks later.
His father has been meeting with Nigerian and U.S. intelligence agencies in Abuja since the attack.
LONELY YOUTH
Akunyili said Abdulmutallab continued communicating with his family after going to Yemen but when he saw his parents were vehemently opposed to his remaining there, he cut communication.
"The parents got very worried and it came to a break when he sent a text message that he did not want to communicate with them any more," Akunyili said.
"They tried everything to go to Yemen and bring him back, and when they failed, they reported him to the security agencies. The reason for that report was to help bring back the child to Nigeria," she said.
The son of a respected banker, Abdulmutallab is from a privileged background in Africa's most populous nation, where most of an estimated 140 million people live on under $2 a day.
He was educated at the British School in Lome, Togo, a boarding school mostly for expatriates and students from around West Africa, before studying engineering at University College London (UCL), where he was enrolled until June 2008.
He then moved to Dubai.
He bought his ticket to Detroit -- leaving from Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos and changing planes in Amsterdam -- in Accra, Ghana, on December 16, paying the $2,831 price in cash, Nigerian aviation officials have said.
Abdulmutallab's Internet postings on Facebook and Islamist chatrooms while he was at school in Togo and at university show a lonely youth struggling between extreme Islamic views and liberalism, according to the Washington Post.
Posting under the name Farouk1986, he wrote of Arabic language studies in Yemen and plans to apply to Stanford and other leading U.S. universities as well as feelings of depression and loneliness, the newspaper said.
(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Giles Elgood)
*** Hijacking and bombing innocents is totally against the Shariah and in fact, a crime punishable by death and falls into the category of "highway robbery" and "unjust murder" - both capital offences in traditional Islamic jurisprudential understanding. MS ***
Showing posts with label Northwest Airline Flight 253 bombing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Northwest Airline Flight 253 bombing. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
AL QAEDA TAKES CREDIT FOR AIRLINE ATTACK
FROM: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/091228/world/world_bomb_suspect
A wing of al-Qaeda has claimed it was behind the attempt to blow up a Christmas Day transatlantic flight, saying it was in retaliation for U.S. attacks in Yemen.
On an Islamist website, Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, named 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and said he co-ordinated with members of the group. They also said the explosives he carried on the Northwest Airlines flight were made by al-Qaeda members.
The group said it provided the Nigerian suspect with a "technically advanced device," but it failed to detonate because of a technical fault, Reuters reported.
Yemeni forces, helped by U.S. intelligence, carried out two airstrikes against al-Qaeda operatives in the country this month.
The second one was a day before the attempted bombing of the plane as it was about to land in Detroit.
Meanwhile, Britain's home secretary confirmed Monday that Abdulmutallab had been added to one of Britains security watch lists.
Alan Johnson said Abdulmutallab was added to the list after his visa application was denied 14 months ago, when officials suspected the school he applied to was not genuine.
Abdulmutallab received a degree in engineering and business finance from University College London last year and later applied to re-enter Britain to study at another institution.
Johnson said there are different security watch lists. The list Abdulmutallab was on meant he could transit through Britain but not enter the country.
If you are on our watch list, then you do not come into this country, Johnson said. You can come through this country if you are in transit to another country, but you cannot come into this country.
The U.S. government said Abdulmutallab had also been on a broad watch list that includes more than 500,000 names after his father alerted embassy officials in Nigeria in November about his son's religious beliefs.
But U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said there was not enough information to put him on a no-fly list, which contains the names of people deemed to be a threat to the security of aircraft or air travellers.
Abdulmutallab is being held in a federal prison in Michigan after suffering burns in the alleged bombing attempt. He is accused of trying to light an explosive device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam on Friday.
U.S. authorities have said he claimed to be carrying out an attack on orders from al-Qaeda.
His family released a statement Monday saying the suspect had cut off contact with his relatives.
"From very early childhood, Farouk, to the best of parental monitoring, had never shown any attitude, conduct or association that would give concern," the family's statement read.
"We, along with the whole world, are thankful to almighty God that there were no lives lost in the incident. May God continue to protect us all, amen."
A wing of al-Qaeda has claimed it was behind the attempt to blow up a Christmas Day transatlantic flight, saying it was in retaliation for U.S. attacks in Yemen.
On an Islamist website, Al-Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, named 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and said he co-ordinated with members of the group. They also said the explosives he carried on the Northwest Airlines flight were made by al-Qaeda members.
The group said it provided the Nigerian suspect with a "technically advanced device," but it failed to detonate because of a technical fault, Reuters reported.
Yemeni forces, helped by U.S. intelligence, carried out two airstrikes against al-Qaeda operatives in the country this month.
The second one was a day before the attempted bombing of the plane as it was about to land in Detroit.
Meanwhile, Britain's home secretary confirmed Monday that Abdulmutallab had been added to one of Britains security watch lists.
Alan Johnson said Abdulmutallab was added to the list after his visa application was denied 14 months ago, when officials suspected the school he applied to was not genuine.
Abdulmutallab received a degree in engineering and business finance from University College London last year and later applied to re-enter Britain to study at another institution.
Johnson said there are different security watch lists. The list Abdulmutallab was on meant he could transit through Britain but not enter the country.
If you are on our watch list, then you do not come into this country, Johnson said. You can come through this country if you are in transit to another country, but you cannot come into this country.
The U.S. government said Abdulmutallab had also been on a broad watch list that includes more than 500,000 names after his father alerted embassy officials in Nigeria in November about his son's religious beliefs.
But U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has said there was not enough information to put him on a no-fly list, which contains the names of people deemed to be a threat to the security of aircraft or air travellers.
Abdulmutallab is being held in a federal prison in Michigan after suffering burns in the alleged bombing attempt. He is accused of trying to light an explosive device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam on Friday.
U.S. authorities have said he claimed to be carrying out an attack on orders from al-Qaeda.
His family released a statement Monday saying the suspect had cut off contact with his relatives.
"From very early childhood, Farouk, to the best of parental monitoring, had never shown any attitude, conduct or association that would give concern," the family's statement read.
"We, along with the whole world, are thankful to almighty God that there were no lives lost in the incident. May God continue to protect us all, amen."
Saturday, December 26, 2009
ATTEMPTED TERROR ATTACK FOILED BY PASSENGERS
FROM: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/742876--passengers-take-down-would-be-bomber
Passengers take down would-be bomber
Nigerian man claiming link to Al Qaeda tries to detonate explosives on jet with 289 aboard
WASHINGTON–A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on Al Qaeda's instructions, tried to blow up the plane Friday as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said.
Passengers subdued the man and may have prevented him from detonating the explosives, officials said.
"We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism," a White House official said.
Federal officials have imposed stricter airline screening measures.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, a Nigerian. Others had different spellings.
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. There were 289 people aboard the Delta Airbus 330. (The two airlines merged last year.)
It was unclear how Mutallab managed to get the explosive on the plane. A senior administration official said the government did not yet know whether the man had the capacity to take down the plane.
Mutallab told law enforcement authorities, the official said, that he had taped explosive powder to his leg and had tried to add chemicals from a syringe to the powder to cause an explosion.
A federal counterterrorism official, who asked not to be identified, said Mutallab was apparently in a government law enforcement intelligence database, but it is not clear what extremist group or individuals he might be linked to.
Although Mutallab is said to have told officials he was directed by Al Qaeda, the counterterrorism official expressed caution about that claim, saying "it may have been aspirational.''
There was nothing out of the ordinary until the flight was on final approach to Detroit, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory. That is when the pilot declared an emergency and landed without incident shortly thereafter, at 11:51 a.m.
Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smell of smoke. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him.
"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.
Mutallab was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence source said the Nigerian passenger was being held and treated in a Michigan hospital.
The Los Angeles Times reported the passenger suffered burns as the result of his attempt to detonate the bomb.
"He was trying to ignite some kind of incendiary device," the Times quoted an unnamed anti-terror official as saying.
"He lit himself on fire and he's suffered some burns."
The official did not reveal the nature of the explosive device and said it was too early to say how potent or sophisticated it was.
One federal official who requested anonymity said the man suffered severe second-degree burns but was expected to survive.
A law enforcement source said the man claimed to have been instructed by Al Qaeda to detonate the plane over U.S. soil.
The official said an official determination of a terrorist act would have to come from the attorney general.
The official added that additional security measures are being taken without raising the airline threat level, but declined to describe what those measures are.
A law enforcement source said the explosives may have been strapped to the man's body but investigators weren't immediately certain, partly because of the struggle with other passengers.
One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She didn't know the person's condition.
The White House was coordinating briefings for President Barack Obama through the Homeland Security Department, the Transportation Security Administration and the FBI.
Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident and is closely monitoring the situation.
The department encouraged travellers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behaviour to law enforcement officials.
The timing and description of the incident so far recall the attempted attack on a Paris-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 and bring it down.
An alert flight attendant and passenger subdued Reid and foiled the attack, which spread fear across the world during the Christmas holidays 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.
In August 2006, British police working with U.S. and Pakistani intelligence broke up a plot in which Al Qaeda trained Britons in Pakistan to assemble sophisticated, liquid-based bombs that would have been smuggled aboard planes in energy drinks and other containers.
If the Nigerian arrested Friday attempted a terrorist bombing, the FBI would be focused on trying to determine if he 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 involved and 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 antiterror officials.
With files from Star news services
Apparently, the suspect's own father had reported him to authorities:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/26/world/main6024210.shtml?tag=topnews
Kudos and awards go out to JASPER SCHURINGA who jumped the suspect:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/26/national/main6024122.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Passengers take down would-be bomber
Nigerian man claiming link to Al Qaeda tries to detonate explosives on jet with 289 aboard
WASHINGTON–A Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria, who said he was acting on Al Qaeda's instructions, tried to blow up the plane Friday as it was landing in Detroit, law enforcement and national security officials said.
Passengers subdued the man and may have prevented him from detonating the explosives, officials said.
"We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism," a White House official said.
Federal officials have imposed stricter airline screening measures.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, 23, a Nigerian. Others had different spellings.
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. There were 289 people aboard the Delta Airbus 330. (The two airlines merged last year.)
It was unclear how Mutallab managed to get the explosive on the plane. A senior administration official said the government did not yet know whether the man had the capacity to take down the plane.
Mutallab told law enforcement authorities, the official said, that he had taped explosive powder to his leg and had tried to add chemicals from a syringe to the powder to cause an explosion.
A federal counterterrorism official, who asked not to be identified, said Mutallab was apparently in a government law enforcement intelligence database, but it is not clear what extremist group or individuals he might be linked to.
Although Mutallab is said to have told officials he was directed by Al Qaeda, the counterterrorism official expressed caution about that claim, saying "it may have been aspirational.''
There was nothing out of the ordinary until the flight was on final approach to Detroit, said Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory. That is when the pilot declared an emergency and landed without incident shortly thereafter, at 11:51 a.m.
Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane's descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smell of smoke. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him.
"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," he said.
Mutallab was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence source said the Nigerian passenger was being held and treated in a Michigan hospital.
The Los Angeles Times reported the passenger suffered burns as the result of his attempt to detonate the bomb.
"He was trying to ignite some kind of incendiary device," the Times quoted an unnamed anti-terror official as saying.
"He lit himself on fire and he's suffered some burns."
The official did not reveal the nature of the explosive device and said it was too early to say how potent or sophisticated it was.
One federal official who requested anonymity said the man suffered severe second-degree burns but was expected to survive.
A law enforcement source said the man claimed to have been instructed by Al Qaeda to detonate the plane over U.S. soil.
The official said an official determination of a terrorist act would have to come from the attorney general.
The official added that additional security measures are being taken without raising the airline threat level, but declined to describe what those measures are.
A law enforcement source said the explosives may have been strapped to the man's body but investigators weren't immediately certain, partly because of the struggle with other passengers.
One passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice said. She didn't know the person's condition.
The White House was coordinating briefings for President Barack Obama through the Homeland Security Department, the Transportation Security Administration and the FBI.
Obama was notified of the incident and discussed it with security officials, the White House said. It said he is monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates from his vacation spot in Hawaii.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has been briefed on the incident and is closely monitoring the situation.
The department encouraged travellers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behaviour to law enforcement officials.
The timing and description of the incident so far recall the attempted attack on a Paris-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 and bring it down.
An alert flight attendant and passenger subdued Reid and foiled the attack, which spread fear across the world during the Christmas holidays 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.
In August 2006, British police working with U.S. and Pakistani intelligence broke up a plot in which Al Qaeda trained Britons in Pakistan to assemble sophisticated, liquid-based bombs that would have been smuggled aboard planes in energy drinks and other containers.
If the Nigerian arrested Friday attempted a terrorist bombing, the FBI would be focused on trying to determine if he 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 involved and 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 antiterror officials.
With files from Star news services
Apparently, the suspect's own father had reported him to authorities:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/26/world/main6024210.shtml?tag=topnews
Kudos and awards go out to JASPER SCHURINGA who jumped the suspect:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/26/national/main6024122.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
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