Terror attempt seen as man tries to ignite device on US jet

NEW YORK - A Nigerian man claiming ties to al-Qaeda allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on a Northwest flight in what the White House called attempted terrorism.
The 23-year-old man, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, was taken into custody and has told investigators he was linked to al-Qaeda and wanted to set off a bomb over the United States, MSNBC reported. A senior intelligence official said the man is on the no-fly list of the United States.
ABC News and NBC News reported that Abdulmutallab attends University College London, where he studied engineering.
Susan Elliott, a spokeswoman for Northwest Airlines' parent company, Delta Airlines, said the passenger tried to ignite what sounded like firecrackers in the cabin of the Northwest Airbus 330 at the end of the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with 278 passengers on board.
Two passengers noticed the attempt and a third jumped on the man, subduing him, NBC News said.
A White House official who asked not to be identified said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism, The New York Times reported. The FBI is investigating the incident and President Barack Obama -- who is celebrating Christmas in Hawaii -- has been briefed on the matter, government officials told The Washington Post.
The president has ordered that measures be implemented to step up airline travel security but a White House spokesman said the government was not prepared to elevate the official terrorism alert to a higher status, the Post said.
The incident resulted in only minor injuries, with one person taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, CNN said. Police said the man suffered second-degree burns, consistent with small fireworks.
Hospital spokeswoman Tracy Justice was not sure if the injured person was the Nigerian or one of the others on the plane, the Detroit Free Press reported.