Abdulmutallab arrived in Lagos, Nigeria with intentions of heading to the US via Amsterdam. The flight to Lagos originated in Ghana, and authorities are attempting to piece together his whereabouts and activities while in the West African nation.
In the weeks leading up to the Christmas Day attack, Yemen has stated in its fullest disclosure of contact between al-Qaida and Abdulmutallab that he trained with al-Qaida operatives in lawless mountainous regions, and may have met with Anwar al-Awlaki, radical American-Yemeni cleric associated with Major Hasan. The government also claims he received the explosives…
Extensive training and resources such as US bank accounts, access to flight schools, and low flight security levels all gave al-Qaida an edge before 9/11 and fostered the 9/11 attacks. But counterterrorism efforts and scrutiny of finance and air travel systems have seen to it that much of what was once available to al-Qaida now…
Yemeni cleric who allegedly was in contact with Major Hasan and Abdulmutallab has been targeted for arrest. The cleric has had little trouble from law enforcement until now, despite his support of al-Qaida and attempts to spread the ideology in the Muslim world. Authorities’ failure to react to him and other Islamist radicals in Yemen…
While Britain has confirmed Abdulmutallab had contact with Islamist radicals during his time at University College London, authorities deny he was recruited into al-Qaida from the UK. The Yemeni government claim otherwise.
