Global General

US, Yemen investigate bombs

By Mohamed Sudam and Mahmoud Habboush (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-31 09:36

SANAA/DUBAI - Yemeni forces searched on Saturday for suspected al-Qaida militants behind a plot to bomb Jewish targets in Chicago uncovered by the interception in Britain and Dubai of parcels with explosives sent from Yemen.

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US President Barack Obama addressed the nation on Friday, saying US authorities would spare no effort to find the source of the packages which he called a "credible terrorist threat" aimed at two places of Jewish worship.

One parcel intercepted in Dubai contained a bomb hidden in a printer which bore all the hallmarks of al-Qaida, said Dubai police whose experts defused the device. British forensic experts were examining the other parcel on Saturday.

"The parcel was prepared in a professional way where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer," a Dubai police statement said.

The plot originating in Yemen will further heighten security concerns about the unstable Arab state, seen by the West as the home of al-Qaida's most inventive and audacious affiliate.

Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and one of its leading figures, US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlak, have been priority US targets since it took responsibility for a failed plot to blow up a US jet on Christmas Day last year.

Dubai police said they found pentaerythritol trinitrate in a printer and cartridge, the same chemical explosive used in the bomb sewn into the underwear of a Nigerian man who has been charged with attempting to blow up the airliner last Christmas.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the parcels but US officials suspect AQAP which is affiliated with al-Qaida, whose militants killed 3,000 people using hijacked airliners in the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The White House said Saudi Arabia had helped to identify the threat from Yemen while Britain and the United Arab Emirates also provided information.

Reuters