Al Qaeda bid to target US-bound plane foiled ahead of bin Laden death anniversary | WPN World People News

America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has claimed to have foiled an Al Qaeda bid to target a US-bound plane ahead of the death of anniversary of slain terrorist leader Osama bin-Laden.

According to the National Security Council, the top advisory body of President Barack Obama on matters related to national security and foreign policy, CIA agents uncovered the plot in which an Al Qaeda suicide bomber had planned to detonate explosives concealed in his underwear.

The explosives were to be blasted only when the airliner crossed over into American airspace, the NSC said in a statement.

According to media reports, the alleged device that was to be hidden in an underwear was seized in the Middle East after a CIA operation in Yemen and is being studied by the FBI.

The BBC said the group was yet to choose the target and no airline tickets had been booked even as the attack was intended to coincide with the first anniversary of bin Laden's death.

There was no word about the would-be bomber - if he has been arrested or not.

"We don't have to worry about him any more," said Peter King, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee of the US House of Representatives, claiming counter-terrorism officials provided him the information.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed the plot was foiled and said it was proof of the continuing need for vigilance around the world.

"These terrorists keep trying. They keep trying to devise more and more perverse and terrible ways to kill innocent people," Clinton said.

Media reports quoted unnamed officials saying the device was similar to the one found on Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Al Qaeda operative who attempted to set off his deadly ordnance over Detroit in 2009.

Source: Middle East News.Net