A Saudi bomb-maker believed to be working with al-Qaeda’s -Yemen-based wing is a key suspect in the parcel bomb plot against the US, a US official said on Saturday.
Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who tops a Saudi Arabian terrorism list, is the brother of a suicide bomber killed in an attempt to kill Saudi counter-terrorism chief Prince Mohammed bin Nayef last year.
That attack, as well as another attempt on a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day last year, involved the use of pentaerythritol -trinitrate (PETN) — a highly potent -explosive that appears to be the weapon of choice of al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
At least one of the two US-bound parcel bombs sent from Yemen addressed to synagogues in Chicago and intercepted in Dubai and Britain on Friday employed PETN.
The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Asiri was being closely looked at by authorities in view of his experience with explosives.
There were also indications he may have been the bomb-maker behind the Christmas Day attempt and the failed attack on Prince Nayaf last year, the official added.
Saudi Arabia, which provided intelligence that helped identify the parcel bomb threat, put Asiri at the top of its terrorism list last year.
Authorities are scrambling to track down any AQAP operatives behind the latest plot. Yemeni police earlier on Saturday arrested a medical student believed to be in her 20s in Sanaa, but her lawyer said he feared she had been -unwittingly used by others.
US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the parcel bombs sent from Yemen had the hallmarks of al-Qaeda, and in particular AQAP.
White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan has called AQAP “the most active operational franchise” of al-Qaeda outside its traditional Pakistani and Afghan base.
US President Barack Obama’s administration has been increasingly focused on the al-Qaeda wing, which authorities have said was behind the failed attempt to blow up a US jetliner on Christmas Day last year with a bomb that a Nigerian man hid in his underwear.
AQAP is headed by Nasser al-Wahayshi, a Yemeni former associate of Osama bin Laden, but it’s Anwar al-Awlaki, a US Islamist preacher of Yemeni ancestry, who is now drawing considerable attention in Washington.
Awlaki, who argues al-Qaeda’s extremist views using Western ideas and the Internet, has called the Christmas Day bomber one of his “students” and he traded e-mails with the US Army psychiatrist who went on a shooting rampage at a military base in Texas last year that killed 13 soldiers
US officials have said Washington has authorized the CIA to kill or capture Awlaki, a rare act against a US citizen that shows the degree of threat he is believed to pose.
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
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