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TweetMuslims just can’t get enough of strapping explosives to their bodies, can they?
CIA thwarts Al Qaeda underwear bomb plot near anniversary of bin Laden’s death
The CIA has unraveled a terror plot by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using an underwear bomb around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Usama bin Laden.The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger’s underwear, but this time Al Qaeda developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials told the Associated Press.“Initial exploitation indicates that the device is very similar to IEDs that have been used previously by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in attempted terrorist attacks, including against aircraft and for targeted assassinations,” the FBI said in a written statement. “The FBI currently has possession of the IED and is conducting technical and forensics analysis on it.”Part of the examination includes seeing if the bomb could have gone undetected through airport security, and if it had the power to take down an airplane, officials said.They added that the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought his plane tickets when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It’s not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.A U.S. official told Fox News that Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, remains “committed to striking targets in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the Homeland, and Europe. And AQAP is probably feeling pressure to conduct a successful attack to, from their perspective, avenge the deaths of bin Laden and Awlaki.”A team of U.S Navy SEALs killed bin Laden during a raid last May on his compound in Pakistan. Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric hiding in Yemen, was killed by a U.S. drone strike in September.Al-Awlaki was closely tied to AQAP and was the inspiration for multiple attacks on American targets, including the failed Christmas Day underwear bomb attack in 2009.“It is our assessment that the threat from AQAP is growing due to the territorial gains the group made during the political standoff in Yemen that lasted from early 2011 until this past February,” the U.S. official told Fox News. “Those territorial gains have allowed the group to establish additional training camps.”In a press conference at the Pentagon with China’s Minister of National Defense, Gen. Liang Guanglie, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the US has to “continue to remain vigilant against those who would seek to attack this country and we will do everything necessary to keep America safe.”
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