Abdulmutallab Says More Attacks On The Way

December 29, 2009 on 12:02 pm | In Al-Qaeda, Terrorism | No Comments

Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said today that he expects hundreds of militant al-Qaeda extremists are planning terror attacks. Al-Quibri is pleading for help from the international community for training against terrorist forces. The Foreign Minister acknowledges numerous al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen, including some of their leaders. In response to the Christmas Day bombing attempt, al-Qibri said, “They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit. There are maybe hundreds of them — 200, 300.”

The perpetrator of the Christmas Day bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines flight 253, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, is said to have told FBI agents that there are more people just like him who are ready to carry out attacks. Abdulmutallab said there are extremists in Yemen and they plan to strike very soon. This statement is backed by the taped message from the Yemen al-Qaeda leader that was released four days before Christmas. In the statement, the al-Qaeda leader boasted of what was planned for Americans, saying, “We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God.”

Abdulmutallab claims to have trained in Yemen under al-Qaeda, for more than a month. With his training complete, he strapped himself with 80 grams of a high explosive (PETN) that was sewn into his underwear and went undetected by standard airport security screenings. The amount of PETN Abdulmutallab had on his person was more than one-and-a-half times the amount carried by Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”, in 2001. The “underwear bomb” was powerful enough to blow a hole in the side of an aircraft. The tragedy was averted due only to the fact that the bomb’s detonator did not work.

Based on the actions of Abdulmutallab, the claim of responsibility by al-Qaeda and the presence of the terrorist group in Yemen, Foreign Minister al-Oirbi said he believes it is the responsibility of countries with strong intelligence capabilities to warn Yemen and other countries of movement by terrorist suspects. Foreign Minister al-Qirbi called on the United States, Britain and the European Union to “work in a very joint fashion in partnership to combat terrorism.”