CIA foiled al-Qaida plot to destroy US-bound airliner

By NBC News and msnbc.com staff
The CIA foiled a plot by al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner around the one-year anniversary of the killing of its former leader Osama bin Laden, senior U.S. officials told NBC News.
Officials said the plot involved a bomb with a design that upgraded the underwear bomb taken aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. That explosive device failed to detonate.
The improved bomb had a more refined detonation mechanism, but was still intended to be hidden in a passenger's underwear. Officials told NBC News the device was "totally non-metallic," which would have made it more difficult to detect by traditional screening processes. An official told NBC News no airlines were ever at risk. The plot was disrupted well before it threatened Americans or U.S. allies, the official added.
Counter-terror officials deem the thwarted plot a "success story," NBC News reported. The FBI said in a statement the successful operation was the "result of close cooperation with our security and intelligence partners overseas."
The FBI is currently in possession of the device and is conducting technical and forensics analyses on it, according to a statement released Monday. According to The Associated Press, the would-be suicide bomber was instructed to buy a ticket on the airliner of his choosing and decide the timing of the attack.
The U.S. officials interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive case.
It's unclear who built the bomb, but the device does bear similarities to other explosive devices built by master bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri. However, Asiri may not have been directly involved in this plot. According to one official, there is "evidence that Asiri has passed along his bomb-making knowledge to others." The official would not say whether Asiri or an apprentice were involved in this plot.
In an exclusive meeting, a senior U.S. intelligence official told NBC News that Asiri posed the single most dangerous threat to the United States.
According to the official, Asiri is the most capable of carrying out al-Qaida’s threat to launch a significant terrorist attack to kill Americans inside the United States.
Asiri designed the first underwear bomb that failed over Detroit and he was also the maker of the printer ink cartridge bombs that were discovered before they were shipped to the United States.
The senior official said counter-terrorism officials were seriously troubled by the ink cartridge bombs because they were "particularly sophisticated."
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Not surprised at all!!!