CIA thwarts US plane bomb plot
Baku, May 8 (AZERTAC). The CIA has thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaeda`s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a US-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jet over Detroit, Michigan on Christmas Day 2009.
The new bomb also was designed to be used in a passenger`s underwear, but this time al Qaeda developed a more refined detonation system, US officials said.
The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down a plane, officials said.
They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who heads the Senate intelligence committee, said today she had been briefed about an “undetectable” device that was “going to be on a US-bound airliner”.
There were no immediate plans to change security procedures at US airports.
The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought a plane ticket when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It was not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.
White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said US president Barack Obama learned about the plot in April and was assured the device posed no threat to the public.
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