'Qaeda-linked man' tries to blow up US plane

NEW YORK - A Nigerian man believed to be linked to al-Qaeda militants 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 into 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 Centre 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.
The incident revived the incident involving Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, who attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight between Paris and Miami in December 2001 by igniting explosives in his shoes. Reid was subdued by a flight attendant and passengers and the plane landed safely in Boston. Reid later pleaded guilty to three terrorism-related counts and was sentenced to life in prison. The incident was a reason why airline passengers must now remove their shoes before passing through security checkpoints in American airports.
In August 2006, British authorities uncovered a plot to blow up planes bound for the United States using explosives that would be mixed with liquids on board. Eight men were arrested and three were convicted in the case this fall. British authorities estimated that as many as 2,000 airplane passengers might have been killed if the plotters had been successful. The plot led security officials to limit the amount of liquids and gels that passengers can bring on board in their carry-on baggage.
Reuters adds: The suspect, who suffered extensive burns, was overpowered by passengers and crew on the Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam. The passengers, two of whom suffered minor injuries, disembarked safely from the Delta Air Lines plane.
We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism, a White House official told Reuters.
The flight had left Amsterdam on Friday and Dutch counterterrorism authorities said they were trying to figure out where the suspect had come from, how he had been screened and how he had managed to board the flight.
Representative Peter King of New York, the senior Republican on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said the explosive device was fairly sophisticated, and the suspect was a 23-year-old Nigerian.
My understanding is...that he does have al Qaeda connections, certainly extremist terrorist connections, and his name popped up pretty quickly in a search. King said the suspect started his journey in Nigeria.
How sophisticated he was, I dont know, he said. But again, it was a fairly sophisticated device. I would say we dropped the ball on this one.
Security at Amsterdams Schiphol Airport has been tightened, in line with increased measures around the world for US-bound flights requested by American authorities. The British government told UK airports to step up checks on flights bound for the United States.
Judith Sluiter, a spokeswoman for Dutch counterterrorism agency NCTb, said it had started a probe into the incident, trying to determine where the suspect originated from.
He did not go through passport control, a Dutch military police spokesman said.
The spokesman confirmed he transferred from another flight of uncertain origin.
An Air France-KLM spokeswoman said passenger lists were confidential and she could not confirm Abdulmutallab started his journey with a KLM flight to Amsterdam from Lagos.
The Nigerian government ordered security agencies to investigate the incident and said they would cooperate fully with the American authorities.
All the necessary security measures are in place in Nigeria. Any passenger, including crew members, on any flight is subject to the same security screening, a spokesman for Nigerias Federal Airport Authority said.
The aircraft, Northwest Airlines flight 253, was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. Delta Air Lines has taken over Northwest.
Passenger Richelle Keepman said the incident was terrifying. I thought I think we all thought we werent going to land, we werent going to make it, Keepman told NBC News.
Another passenger, Melinda Dennis, said the man was severely burned. His entire leg was burned. They required a fire extinguisher as well as water to put it out, she told NBC. You could smell the smoke when we landed. You could smell the scent of something being burned when we landed.
Once on the ground, the aircraft was moved to a remote area at Detroits airport where all baggage was being re-screened, the Transportation Security Administration said.
Citing US officials, the Wall Street Journal said the Nigerian had told investigators that al Qaeda operatives in Yemen had given him the device and instructions on how to detonate it.
But NBC, citing anti-terrorism officials, said he claimed to have been acting on his own.
King said investigators were looking into whether the incident was part of a larger plot. There is a world-wide alert to make sure this is not part of a larger overall scheme, he said.
The New York Times, citing a senior Homeland Security official, said the device was made from a mixture of powder and liquid and was more incendiary than explosive.
The official said Abdulmutallab told law enforcement authorities he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe filled with chemicals to mix with the powder in an attempt to cause an explosion.
The Department of Homeland Security said security measures had been stepped up.