Big Fat Story
Nigerian man attempted to ignite powdery substance upon landing.
A Nigerian man aboard a flight en route to Detroit allegedly tried to ignite a powdery substance in an effort to blow up the aircraft as the plane neared its destination Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told the Associated Press. The White House released a statement calling it an "attempted act of terrorism." Multiple law-enforcement officials identified the passenger as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He reportedly said al Qaeda instructed him to cause an explosion on the flight from Amsterdam once over U.S. soil. The suspect also told authorities that the substance, which he said he acquired in Yemen, was taped to his leg and that he had used a syringe of chemicals to combine with the powder to cause an explosion, a method consistent with terrorist techniques. The failed explosion “sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase,” said one man on the flight. Another passenger helped extinguish the burning object and dragged the suspect to the front of the plane, where he was handcuffed. Abdulmutallab was charged Saturday with the willful attempt to destroy an aircraft. Preliminary FBI analysis shows the device contained PETN, a high explosive. Abdulmutallab is due in court later Saturday, despite his injuries. President Barack Obama and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano have both been briefed on the incident.
Photo: AFP / Getty Images
Suspect's father says he warned the U.S. of son.
The terror suspect who tried to blow up a Northwest airliner on Christmas Day is the son of a Nigerian banker who warned the U.S. of his son's "extreme religious views" months ago, the father told a Nigerian daily. Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria, said he was shocked his son was even allowed on a plane. A 23-year-old engineering student at University College London and a Nigerian citizen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab may also be a terrorist working for al Qaeda. Authorities say that it’s still too early to determine if Mutallab’s claims that he was on a mission for al Qaeda are true, though Western officials have feared for some time that Nigera, a country with a sharp Muslim-Christian divide, could be turning into a breeding ground for insurgents. The country has seen a recent surge in young Muslim activists, which even gave rise to a now-defunct group called Boko Haram, also known as the Nigerian Taliban. Abdulmutallab’s visa documents show that he was en route to the U.S. for a religious ceremony, and officials have confirmed that his name has appeared in certain databases connected to terrorists. The elder Mutallab said that his son may have recently visited Yemen, where the younger Mutallab reportedly received instructions for his attack. “I believe that he might have been to Yemen, but we are investigating to determine that,” the elder Mutallab told the Associated Press.
Airports tighten restrictions, implement body checks, extra luggage searches.
Airport security around the world, including in the U.K., Europe, Canada, and parts of Asia and Australia, tightened the day following the attempted terrorist attack en route to Detroit International Airport. Extra security measures, such as heightened searches of passengers and luggage, were being implemented, and baggage restrictions were tightened in the U.K. and Canada. U.S. travelers should expect additional screenings and longer check-in times, and limited ability to roam the aisles and access to their carry-on luggage during their flights. Nigeria, London’s Metropolitan Police Service, the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism in the Netherlands, and the Dutch Royal Military Police are all conducting their own investigations. The FBI is spearheading the domestic inquiry and reviewing the material used in the bomb, which involved a mixture of liquid and powder. Following the incident, passengers were interviewed and their luggage rescreened. President Barack Obama is monitoring the situation from Hawaii, where he is vacationing for the holidays. Obama convened a conference call Friday with advisers from the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Council. Some administration officials have expressed suspicions that Abdulmutallab may have links to Anwar Al Awlaki, the cleric who is said to have influenced Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.
Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Attack on Christmas
A Nigerian man with possible al Qaeda ties is accused of igniting an explosive device on a jetliner to Detroit on Christmas Day. The Daily Beast on the man accused of the crime, the heroic passengers who stopped him, and the spate of terror attacks on U.S. soil in 2009.
Civilian Jasper Schuringa took the situation into his own hands.
Jasper Schuringa will surely be getting a hero’s welcome upon his return to the Netherlands. The video director and producer from Amsterdam got more excitement than he bargained for when he ended up seated near Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Northwest Airlines Flight 253. When the explosive device first went off, Schuringa said it sounded like a firecracker, but he quickly noticed smoke and a burning object in Abdulmutallab’s open pant leg. Schuringa leaped over another passenger to grab the explosive from Abdulmutallab and tried to extinguish the flame with his hands, while calling for water. Schuringa then dragged the suspect from his seat to the front of the plane, stripped him to ensure that there were no other hidden explosive devises, and handcuffed Abdulmutallab with a crewmember’s help. Though he suffered some burns on his hands and sustained other minor injuries, Schuringa says that he’s simply happy to be alive. Passengers applauded his heroic attempt as he returned to his seat.
Rise in incidents, but radicalization still “immature.”
Christmas was capped off with an attempted terrorist attack, signaling that “home-based terrorism is here,” as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said this month. In November, Nidal Malik Hasan, a practicing Muslim who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, killed 13 people in a rampage on Fort Hood, Texas. There was also Najibullah Zazi, a Queens resident and Afghan American who was charged in September with plotting terrorist attacks on the U.S. Antiterrorism officials say that recent arrests from across the country seem to indicate a growing radicalization of Islamic extremists on American soil, as evidenced by Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, who was charged with conspiring in the November 2008 attacks on Mumbai and on the Danish newspaper that in 2005 published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad; and the five Virginia men recently arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of seeking to hook up with terrorist organizations. While some experts claim that radicalization is on the rise, others say it’s still “immature” and that American Muslims born and raised in the U.S. are more resistant to extremism.
Photo: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences / AP Photo
Past security, bombers can use plane navigation to their advantage.
On the day following the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 terrorist attack, airlines enforced an unusual security measure by suspending their in-flight entertainment. Not only do the consoles provide mindless movie entertainment for the duration of the flight, they also relay satellite-map information with precise details as to the remaining duration of the flight and the exact flight path. Historically, trans-oceanic bomb plots have involved explosives detonating mid-flight, though such plans can be foiled if the flight path diverges from the one expected, as it did in the 1988 Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland. The explosive device in Friday’s Flight 253 incident was set off near landing, which could have been intended to maximize casualties on the ground—and was aided by information provided on the satellite maps. “That is like giving a Satnav device to the bomber,” writes The Daily Beast’s Clive Irving. The last line of defense in the future of air transportation security may have to be revisited, Irving warns.
Photo: Getty Images
gunapie
This clash of culture, religion/scriptures is a sign of our horrid past draging up down. There is on heaven or hell. There is not religion that explains morality clearly, i.e., One should live in such a way as to cause the least amount of suffering to other living entities. This is includes those in the World Trade Center and those in Palestine. Religion has fail us.
vin301
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vin301
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vin301
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