29 December,2009 08:15 AM IST | | Agencies
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility today for the attack on a US airliner bound for Detroit on Christmas Day, saying it was retaliation for a US operation against the group in Yemen.
In a statement posted on the Internet, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (pictured) coordinated with members of the group, an alliance of militants based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Yemeni forces, helped by US intelligence, carried out two airstrikes against al-Qaeda operatives in the country this month.
The second one was a day before Abdulmutallab attempted to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight as it prepared to land in Detroit.
The group said Abdulmutallab used explosives manufactured by al-Qaeda members. "He managed to penetrate all devices and modern advanced technology and security checkpoints in international airports bravely without fear of death," the group said in the statement, "relying on God and defying the large myth of American and international intelligence, and exposing how fragile they are, bringing their nose to the ground, and making them regret all what they spent on security technology."
Federal authorities met yesterday to reassess the US system of terror watchlists to determine how to avoid the type of lapse that allowed a man with explosives to board the flight in Amsterdam even though he was flagged as a possible terrorist.
