Bombs sent from Yemen to U.S. targeted airplanes
Devices could have been triggered in flight
WASHINGTON – Two powerful bombs sent from Yemen appear to have been designed to blow up airliners on their way to the United States and the devices bore the hallmarks of a fugitive Saudi bomb maker who has repeatedly targeted the U.S. and its allies, senior U.S. officials said Sunday,
A team of U.S. and British investigators were expected to arrive in Yemen’s capital San’a early this week to assist Yemeni authorities in investigating the attempted bombings, which were disrupted last week after authorities in Britain and the United Arab Emirates, acting on tips from Saudi and U.S. intelligence, intercepted the packages.
Though initial reports indicated they were shipped aboard cargo jets, Qatar Airways said in a statement Sunday that the package intercepted in the UAE was initially transported aboard a passenger jet that went from San’a, the Yemeni capital, to Doha, the Qatari capital, and then on to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
John O. Brennan, the White House’s senior counterterrorism adviser, said the packages were addressed to fictitious people in Chicago “associated with synagogues.” But he indicated that investigators were more confident after investigating the devices over the weekend that the bombs were designed to go off before being delivered.
“We’re looking at the potential that they would have been detonated en route to those synagogues aboard the aircraft as well as at the destinations,” Brennan said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “But at this point, I think, we would agree with the British that they were designed to be detonated in flight.”
He was referring to statements by senior British officials Saturday that one of the devices, which was intercepted in East Midlands airport in central England, could have been triggered to go off while in the air and that it was powerful enough to bring down an airliner.
On Sunday, authorities in Yemen released 23-year-old Hanan Samawi, an engineering student who had been arrested after her name was discovered on one or both of the packages sent from Sana. A Yemeni official said Sunday she was released because authorities concluded Samawi had not sent the packages.
How the Obama administration will react to the latest threat from Yemen remains unclear. A senior Pentagon official said Sunday that there have been no decisions on changing the current U.S. approach, which relies on U.S. special forces to train Yemeni security forces so they can better deal with the growing militant presence.
The U.S. has halted all cargo and mail shipments from Yemen, and security officials in multiple countries were searching shipments Sunday for other bombs, officials said. Asked if there could be any more packages carrying explosives en route, Brennan said all packages coming from Yemen would be checked.