Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab told FBI that “there were more just like him in Yemen and would strike soon,” the ABC News reported quoting officials familiar with the investigation.
A tape released by al Qaeda leaders in Yemen some four days before the failed attempt to blow up the US plane, had said that “we are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God”. Abdulmutallab, 23, has been charged with attempting to blow up the US plane and planting an explosive device on it.
According to news reports, Abdulmutallab has told FBI that he was trained for more than a month in Yemen, given 80 grams of an explosive cleverly sewn into his underpants, that went undetected by standard security screening.
“They know that this is a weakness and an Achilles’ heel in our airport security system,” said one analyst.
Published 29 December 2009, 15:44 IST