Al Qaeda Touts Undetectable Bomb Threat On U.S. Airlines
Al Qaeda touts undetectable bomb threat on U.S. airlines.
In December’s issue of Inspire, a terrorist magazine, highlighted the use of an “undetectable” bomb to be used on U.S. airlines. The threat comes from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
The writer, in an article entitled “The Hidden Bomb”, details the technology and says, “For several months, we conducted a number of experiments. As a result we came up with these simple materials that are readily available around the globe, even inside America. We spared no effort in simplifying the idea in such we made it ‘another meal prepared in the kitchen’ so that every determined Muslim can prepare.”
The editor of the magazine claims that the bomb is undetectable and that it is easy to create at home, posing a new kind of threat that matches the one detailed last week about “lone wolf” attacks on Western airlines, including a number of U.S. airline companies.
The editor of the magazine, Yahya Ibrahim, also apologized to readers for the delay in publication, claiming that the technology and recipe for the undetectable bomb were the holdup for publication.
The threat is one United States security officials take seriously, and one have they considered in the past. According to Washington’s Top News:
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, also known as AQAP, is viewed by security experts the world over as the pre-eminent architects of technologically advanced IEDs. The group boasts in the magazine about the nearly successful plot to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day 2009. Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to ignite a bomb concealed in his underwear, but the device failed. The group’s master bomb-maker, Ibrahim Al-Asiri, designed that explosive and another, a rectal bomb designed to kill Saudi Interior Minister Muhammad bin Naif, earlier in 2009. Naif survived, but the man carrying the bomb, Asiri’s own brother, was killed. Both men used bombs similar in design.
Former TSA Administrator John Pistole, who left his position to return to private life on Dec. 31, told WTOP late last month, “What gives us greatest concern are the non-metallic improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that that can go through a metal detector.”
That is precisely what AQAP bragged about in the latest edition of Inspire. The group claims to have defeated U.S. layered defenses designed to detect concealed explosives.
The two recent threats come after a year that Al Qaeda has been less spoken about, as much of the world has shifted its focus to the threat of ISIS.
