Nigerian man with 'links to al-Qaeda' arrested over US airliner bomb plot
President demands increased travel security after Christmas Day incident
(J.P. Karas/AP)
The suspect, Abdul Mudallad, was on Northwest Flight 253, owned by Delta
James Bone in New York
A Nigerian reported to be studying in Britain allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic airliner on Christmas Day in what the White House called an attempted act of terrorism.
The suspect, claiming links to al-Qaeda, was taken into custody with burns after allegedly trying to detonate explosives on Northwest Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.
He was identified by ABC News as Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, an engineering student at University College London.
He was reportedly on a US intelligence “watch-list” but not on the US Government’s no-fly list.
President Obama was notifed of the apparent attack while on holiday in Hawaii and received updates throughout the day. He ordered airline security to be tightened, particularly for in-bound flights to the United States.
The suspect began his journey in Nigeria on board KLM Flight 588 and made a connection in Amsterdam on to Northwest 253. According to ABC News his visa stated that he was travelling to the US for a religious ceremony. Initial reports were that he had lit firecrackers on board the Airbus 330, which was carrying 278 passengers.
However, a senior US counter-terrorism official said later that the man had actually been planning to blow up the aircraft but the explosive device had failed.
The aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing shortly before noon when a smoke detector alarm went off. Delta Airlines, which owns Northwest, said that a passenger caused a commotion as the flight was getting ready to land in Detroit. The man was subdued immediately, it said.
According to ABC News, the suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to detonate the powder.
Syed Jafry, of Holland, Michigan, told the Detroit News that he was sitting in the 16th row when he heard “a pop and saw some smoke and fire”. Mr Jafry said that people ran out of their seats to tackle the suspect.
Dawn Griffith, from Pontiac, Michigan, who was waiting to meet a passenger, told the newspaper that she saw a “young looking” man being taken from the airport handcuffed to a stretcher with his hands bandaged.
The Nigerian suspect suffered second-degree burns and was being treated at the University of Michigan Medical Centre, where authorities were questioning him. On landing, the Northwest flight was directed to an isolated part of the Detroit airport as police and firemen responded.
Passengers were interviewed by investigators as police wearing anti-bomb gear boarded the aircraft.
The White House last night described the incident as terrorism-related. “We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism,” a White House official said.
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