Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab set an explosive device attached to his body alight while on the Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25 Photo: REUTERS
Osama bin Laden endorsed the failed attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner Christmas Day and threatened new attacks against the United States in an audio message released Sunday that appeared aimed at asserting that he maintains some direct command over al-Qaeda-inspired offshoots.
U.S. officials and several researchers who track terrorist groups, however, said there is no indication that bin Laden or any of his top lieutenants had anything to do with or even knew in advance of the plot by a Yemen-based group that is one of several largely independent al-Qaeda franchises. READ MORE | Washingtonpost.com.
