| Date: 11/05/2012 Time: 12:12:00 AM |
British officials declined to confirm or deny
tonight US reports that the Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula undercover
agent, who foiled an Al-Qaeda plot to blow up an airliner with an underwear
bomb, is a British national.
The officials here maintained studied silence on these reports. These
reports suggested that the UK intelligence were said to have been "heavily
involved" in recruiting the spy who infiltrated a terror group in Yemen in a
rare coup for Western agencies.
Quoting sources briefed by Saudi counter-terrorism officials, US television
networks said the individual grew up in Europe where he was apparently
radicalised.
He was subsequently "turned" and recruited by Saudi agents last year, they
said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is believed to have been planning the
spectacular attack with a nearly-undetectable device around the anniversary of
the death of Osama bin Laden.
But the individual chosen to carry out the attack was an informant who
handed over the bomb.
Meanwhile, US officials said the would-be bomber was supposed to board a
plane to the US and detonate the device inside the country.
The CIA became aware of the plot last month.
FBI experts are examining the bomb to see if it could have passed through
security and been taken on to a plane. Officials said it was an upgrade on one
which failed to detonate on a flight over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. Both
were designed to be carried in a passenger's underwear, but the latest version
contained a more advanced detonation system.
The 2009 bomb, and an incident the following year when terrorists smuggled
bombs on to cargo jets, were believed to have been the work of al Qaida
bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri in Yemen.
US Officials believe the latest bomb - details of which became public on
Monday night - could have been produced by Al-Asiri or one of his proteges,
the reports reaching here added. |