A senior Yemeni official said on Thursday that Nigerian national Omar Faruq Abdulmutallab, a key suspect in the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner, was recruited to work by al-Qaeda in the British capital London. In a press conference, Yemen's deputy Premier for Defance and Security Affairs Rashad al-Alimi said that the ongoing investigations had proved that Abdulmutallab was involved in al-Qaeda during his visits to London several times.
Citing Dutch prosecutors, the Yemeni official stressed that Abdulmutallab had probably obtained the explosives, which were stitched into his underwear, in Nigeria before he arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport where he boarded the flight to Detroit.
According to SABA news agency, Al-Alimi confirmed that Yemen's security forces have foiled some al-Qaeda's plans to attack local facilities and foreign interests, including the British embassy in Sana'a. "Security forces seized a huge quantity of ammunition and suicide vests of the same kind used in an attack against Saudi interior minister late in August", the Yemeni official said.
According to Alimi, al-Qaeda in Yemen has carried out 61 terrorist attacks against vital facilities, foreign embassies and security commanders that claimed the lives of unidentified number of people since 1992.
