newjerseynewsroom.com

\BY ADELE SAMMARCO

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The CIA has foiled another terrorist plot to bomb a U.S.-bound jetliner. This time the plan involved an improved version of the "underwear bomb" that failed to detonate on a Northwest Airlines flight in late 2009.

Officials say this latest plot was organized by an al Qaeda arm in Yemen just last month. The affiliate, known as the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula or AQAP, did not pose a serious threat to human life since it was dismantled before it went off.

The discovery of the plot comes just a day after a CIA drone strike killed Fahd Mohammad Ahmed al Quso in Yemen, an al Qaeda figure indicted in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. Ever since that military attack, al Quso held a spot on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Terrorist list and is said to be a key initiator of the new underwear bomb plot.

Senior counterterrorism officials say al Quso was the operational leader of AQAP since last September when an air strike killed U.S. born al Qaeda head, Anwar al-Awlaki, and say his involvement in the planning of a new attack on the United States made him a marked target for U.S. military planners

The plot involved a more refined upgrade of the underwear bomb's detonation system which failed to go-off Christmas Day 2009 onboard U.S. Air Flight 252 that was flying over Detroit at the time.

The convicted bomber in the "Christmas Day bombing attempt" was 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who concealed plastic explosives in his underwear, but failed to detonate them properly, which resulted in flames and popping noises.

An alert Dutch passenger by the name of Jasper Schuringa tackled and restrained Abdulmutallab and put out the fire with the aid of other passengers.

Abdulmutallab was then handcuffed while the pilot safely landed the plane. In all, three people were injured: Abdulmutallab, Schuringa, and another passenger.

Upon landing in Detroit, the Nigerian-born Abdulmutallab was arrested and taken to a hospital for treatment of his burns and few days later, on December 28, 2009, AQAP claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.

A federal grand jury indicted Abdulmutallab on January 6, 2010, on six criminal charges, including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted murder.

This latest underwear device recovered is believed to be made of the highly explosive material Pentaerythritol tetranitrate or PETN and was specifically designed to avoid detection at metal detectors. Law enforcement sources say it would not have been picked up under a normal X-ray machine, however, believe it may have been revealed under the more intrusive body scanning machine, but caution discovery requires a highly alert and skilled Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent.

FBI sources say explosives expert Ibrahim al Asiri, another prominent AQAP figure, is believed to be the bomb's creator. U.S. experts characterize al Asiri as a genius of the miniaturization of bomb making and is said to have built the first underwear bomb worn by Abdulmutallab.

This latest plot allegedly involved a suicide bomber who was told to buy a ticket on an airline of his choosing and decide the timing of the attack using his own discretion.

The underwear bomb is now being examined in the FBI's Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia.

"The device and the plot are consistent with what we know about AQAP's plans, intentions, and capabilities. They remain committed to striking targets in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the homeland, and Europe. And AQAP is probably feeling pressure to conduct a successful attack to, from their perspective, avenge the deaths of Bin Laden and Aulaqi," a senior U.S. official said, according to CBS news.

Intelligence officials say AQAP was given the assignment by al Qaeda in Pakistan to carry out the plot against the United States and Great Britain. Over the past decade, AQAP has grown in size and influence in Yemen and has been at war with the government, seizing towns and parcels of tribal territorial regions.

"It is our assessment that the threat form AQAP is growing due to the territorial gains the group made during the political standoff in Yemen that lasted from early 2011 until this past February," said the official. "Those territorial gains have allowed the group to establish additional training camps."

The FBI's Terrorist Explosive Device Exploitation Center is in the process of extracting crucial information from the device that will prove to be beneficial to airport screeners as well as airport travelers around the world.