U.S. media reports say a person sent by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen to explode a U.S.-bound airliner was actually a double agent who infiltrated the fear network and convinced the terrorists to trust him with a brand new bomb designed to go through airport security.
Unidentified U.S. and foreign intelligence officials said Tuesday the name of the game operative was working for Saudi Arabia's intelligence service and the CIA. They are saying he posed as a would-be suicide bomber and volunteered for the mission that involved explosives concealed in his underwear. The operative was ready to turn over his sophisticated explosive device to U.S. officials, who're analyzing the bomb on the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.
They say the operative also obtained information that resulted in a successful airstrike Sunday against al-Qaida leader Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso in Yemen. Quso was wanted for his role within the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole warship off Yemen, which killed 17 U.S. sailors.
The informant's identity has not been disclosed. Unidentified officials say the operative spent weeks gaining the trust of members of Al-Qaida within the Arabian Peninsula. Â
Reports indicate that the U.S. administration had planned to maintain the bomb operation secret however the Associated Press learned of it last week. The inside track organization delayed reporting the tale on the request of the Obama administration.
U.S. officials have said the plot by al-Qaida's branch to position a suicide bomber on a U.S.-bound jet was detected in its earliest stages and that no U.S. airliner was ever in peril.
Authorities say the bomb was a redesign of an explosive underwear device intended to explode a jet flying from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan on December 25, 2009.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the incident is a reminder that America and its allies are still targets of terrorist plots.
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From WhatNewsToday.net
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