A bomber from the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen sent to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner last month was actually a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide mission, U.S. media reported on Tuesday. Working closely with the CIA, Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency placed the operative inside al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, with the goal of convincing his handlers to give him a new type of non-metallic bomb for the mission, the Los Angeles Times reported. Western intelligence agencies have identified AQAP as among the most dangerous and determined al Qaeda affiliates in the world, dedicated in part to attacks on the West. The explosive device was intended to be smuggled aboard an aircraft undetected and then detonated. The double agent arranged instead to deliver the device to U.S. and other intelligence authorities waiting outside Yemen, the LA Times reported. The agent arrived safely in an unidentified country and is being debriefed. Experts at the FBI's bomb laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, are now analyzing the device to determine if it really could have evaded airport security, the newspaper said. If such a device could be brought on board an aircraft, it could in theory be detonated without the knowledge of aircraft passengers and crew. The main charge was a high-grade military explosive that "undoubtedly would have brought down an aircraft," the New York Times reported, citing a senior American official. It appeared to be an upgraded version of the so-called "underwear bomb" that failed to down a passenger jet over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, the LA Times said. "Like that bomb, this device bears the forensic signature of feared al Qaeda bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan Asiri," who is believed to be hiding in Yemen, the LA Times Web site reported. The operation relied not on the high-tech and satellite surveillance for which the CIA has been known in recent years, but old-fashioned human intelligence work. It did, however, produce intelligence that helped the CIA locate top al Qaeda operative Fahd al-Qasaa, who was killed on Sunday when a CIA drone targeted him with a missile as he stepped out of his car in Yemen, the newspapers reported. Qasaa was thought by intelligence analysts to have played a role in the bombing of guided missile destroyer USS Cole in a Yemeni port in 2000.
GMT 09:46 2017 Friday ,06 January
US air strikes in Syria kill Al-Qaeda militantsGMT 15:43 2016 Friday ,05 February
Al-Qaeda seizes capital city of Yemen's Abyan provinceGMT 12:50 2016 Thursday ,04 February
3 al-Qaeda members killed in YemenGMT 14:53 2016 Monday ,18 January
Suicide group affiliated to AQIM carried out Burkina Faso hotel attackGMT 22:01 2016 Friday ,01 January
Al-Qaida gunmen kill 3 pro-government soliders in Yemen's southGMT 13:53 2015 Wednesday ,23 September
2 Qaeda militants killed in YemenGMT 12:55 2015 Saturday ,22 August
Qaeda blamed as Aden police base bombedGMT 12:35 2015 Wednesday ,22 July
Al-Qaeda key figure killed in US airstrikeMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor