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Officials: Possible terror attack on U.S. jetliner
Nigerian man tries to light powdery substance on Detroit flight, officials say
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 5:43 p.m. ET, Fri., Dec . 25, 2009
A 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to light a powdery substance aboard a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in Detroit on Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News.
Two people noticed the attempt and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News.
The man is being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.
The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said.
The man was subdued by the crew of Flight 253 from Amsterdam, one counterterrorism official said. The official said the man left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, then boarded the Northwest flight in Amsterdam on Friday.
Flight 253 was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport and all passengers deplaned and were rescreened along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said.
President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are treating this as a possible terrorist attack and are taking it “very seriously,” counterterrorism officials said. An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure there no similar attacks, Burton said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.
On Dec. 22, 2001, passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdued a man who was attempting to detonate explosives in his sneakers. Richard Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cousin, Ramzi Yousef, were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.
Officials: Possible terror attack on U.S. jetliner - Crime & courts- msnbc.com
Nigerian man tries to light powdery substance on Detroit flight, officials say
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 5:43 p.m. ET, Fri., Dec . 25, 2009
A 23-year-old Nigerian man tried to light a powdery substance aboard a Northwest Airlines flight before landing in Detroit on Friday, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told NBC News.
Two people noticed the attempt and a third person jumped on the man and subdued him, an airline official told NBC News.
The man is being treated at the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, officials said.
The man told investigators that he wanted to set off a bomb over the United States and claimed to be tied to al-Qaida, counterterrorism officials said.
The man was subdued by the crew of Flight 253 from Amsterdam, one counterterrorism official said. The official said the man left Lagos, Nigeria, on Thursday, then boarded the Northwest flight in Amsterdam on Friday.
Flight 253 was an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers. The Transportation Security Administration reported that the plane was taken to a remote area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport and all passengers deplaned and were rescreened along with all the luggage on the flight. In addition, all passengers were interviewed, a TSA statement said.
President Barack Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, was informed of the incident Friday morning by his National Security Council staff, White House spokesman Bill Burton said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are treating this as a possible terrorist attack and are taking it “very seriously,” counterterrorism officials said. An interagency meeting of senior intelligence, law enforcement and security was convened out of Washington to discuss the incident and possible measures to ensure there no similar attacks, Burton said.
U.S. counterterrorism officials are particularly concerned in light of the 2006 London airline plot, in which British and Pakistani nationals conspired to carry out multiple suicide bombings on board trans-Atlantic flights.
On Dec. 22, 2001, passengers and crew aboard an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdued a man who was attempting to detonate explosives in his sneakers. Richard Reid pleaded guilty to terrorism charges in 2003 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cousin, Ramzi Yousef, were accused of plotting in 1995 to take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean using explosive devices hidden in airliner lavatories.
Officials: Possible terror attack on U.S. jetliner - Crime & courts- msnbc.com
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