Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is seen in a mug shot released by the U.S. Marshals Service on December 28, 2009. Abdulmutallab attempted to detonate a bomb attached to his body on Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25. He was overpowered by passengers and crew before setting off the explosive device. UPI/U.S. Marshals |
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SANA'A, Yemen, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a U.S.-bound jetliner met with al-Qaida operatives, including a radical U.S.-born cleric, a Yemeni official said.
Citing information from the Yemeni investigation, Rashad al-Alimi, deputy prime minister for the country's security and defense, said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab acquired the explosives in Nigeria, before boarding a flight from Lagos to Amsterdam and connecting with the Detroit-bound Northwest Flight 253 on Dec. 24, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Alimi's account of Abdulmutallab's movements before the attack differ in several aspects from probes conducted by British, Ghanaian and Nigerian officials, including where the 23-year-old man was recruited, how he got the explosives sewn into his underwear and how long he spent at the Nigerian airport, officials said.
Previous reports indicate Abdulmutallab flew from Accra, Ghana, Dec. 24, and had a layover at the airport in Lagos. U.S. officials said Abdulmutallab told FBI agents that al-Qaida operatives in Yemen trained him and furnished the explosive material.
While denying that Abdulmutallab left Yemen with the explosives and acquired them in Nigeria, Alimi did not offer specific evidence to back up his claim, the Times said.
Before leaving Yemen, Abdulmutallab traveled to a remote area in central Yemen, meeting with "al-Qaida elements," that probably included Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Yemeni-American Internet cleric, Alimi said, citing information from the Yemeni investigation.
"This place is indeed associated with Anwar al-Awlaki," Alimi said of a building later bombed by Yemeni forces.
