Nigerian Arraigned in Bomb Attempt

By NICK BUNKLEY and LIZ ROBBINS

DETROIT — The Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb a Northwest flight to Detroit on Christmas Day was arraigned Friday here in a quiet hearing that lasted barely four minutes yet attracted a throng of reporters, protesters and curious observers.
Wearing a white shirt and metal shackles on his feet, with his head shaved, the defendant, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was silent when his lawyers entered a plea of not guilty.
On Wednesday, a federal grand jury indicted Mr. Abdulmutallab on six charges, including attempted murder on an airplane, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and related offenses. He is accused of concealing explosives in his underwear and of trying to detonate them with a syringe of chemicals as Northwest Flight 253, which carried 289 passengers and crew members from Amsterdam, was descending for landing in Detroit. He managed to start a small fire but was overpowered by other passengers and flight attendants, and the plane landed safely.
At Friday's arraignment, Magistrate Judge Mark A. Randon of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan asked Mr. Abdulmutallab a series of perfunctory questions about his background and whether he understood the charges. He said, softly, "Yes, sir."
Asked whether he was taking medication, Mr. Abdulmutallab responded: "In the last 24 hours? Some painkillers."
Mr. Abdulmutallab occasionally conferred with his lawyers, led by Miriam L. Siefer. He appeared subdued and did not show any visible signs of the third-degree burns he sustained on the plane.
His lawyers waived a detention hearing and consented to having Mr. Abdulmutallab continue to be held in the federal prison in Milan, near Ann Arbor.
Hebba Aref, 27, who said her seat was six rows in front of Mr. Abdulmutallab's on the flight, watched the hearing from the front row in the courtroom, with members of her family. Ms. Aref, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, works as a lawyer in Kuwait and said she would be flying there on Friday night.
"This person has changed my life, and the way things are done in the United States," she said. "I just wanted to see who this person was again."
When Ms. Aref saw Mr. Abdulmutallab, she said, "I felt something in the pit of my stomach." Asked what resolution she wanted in the case, she hesitated before responding, "Whatever the maximum penalty is."
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has said that Mr. Abdulmutallab could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. Mr. Holder has also said that the government has obtained significant information from Mr. Abdulmutallab about the Yemen-based branch of Al Qaeda that is suspected of planning the attack.
Mr. Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a respected Nigerian banker, alerted both Nigerian and American authorities in the fall that his son, a Muslim, had become radicalized and had moved to Yemen. Two Nigerian lawyers — Maryam Uwais and Mahmud Kazaure — attended Friday's hearing to observe for the family.
Dozens of Muslims from nearby Dearborn gathered outside the courthouse carrying large American flags and colorful signs that read "NOT in the name of Islam" and "Islam is against terrorism."
"Abdulmutallab is not Muslim," said Mohssen Sadeq, 40, who said he came to the United States from Yemen in 2000. "I need peace and freedom everywhere. I don't want terrorists anywhere. This is my country. I love America."
Nearby, Rasaq Ibrahim, 39, a Nigerian immigrant who said he came to the United States 12 years ago, held a sign that read, "The action of one Nigerian does not reflect all Nigerians."
"His actions are totally against our morals and our ideals," Mr. Ibrahim said. "We feel disgraced and betrayed."

Nick Bunkley reported from Detroit, and Liz Robbins from New York.

AP sources: Bomber at CIA base was a double agent

By PAMELA HESS and ADAM GOLDMAN
Associated Press Writers

The suicide bomber who killed eight people inside a CIA base in Afghanistan claimed to have information about Osama bin Laden's second-in-command, and was being recruited as a double agent to infiltrate al-Qaida, a former senior U.S. intelligence official and a foreign government official confirmed Monday.
The bombing killed seven CIA employees — four officers and three contracted security guards — and a Jordanian intelligence officer, Ali bin Zaid, according to a second former U.S. intelligence official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident.
The former senior intelligence official and the foreign official said the bomber was Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a 36-year old doctor from Zarqa, Jordan, who had been recruited by Jordanian intelligence. Zarqa is the hometown of slain Al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. NBC News first reported the bomber's identity.
He was arrested more than a year ago by Jordanian intelligence and was thought to have been persuaded to support U.S. and Jordanian efforts against al-Qaida, according to the NBC report. He was invited to Camp Chapman, a tightly secured CIA forward base in Khost province on the fractious Afghan-Pakistan frontier, because he was offering urgent information to track down Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand man.
The CIA declined to comment on the report.
Hajj Yacoub, a self-proclaimed spokesman for the Taliban in Pakistan, identified the bomber on Muslim militant Web sites as Hammam Khalil Mohammed, also known as Abu-Dujana al-Khurasani. There was no independent confirmation of Yacoub's statement.
Al-Balawi was not searched for bombs when he got onto Camp Chapman, according to both former officials and a current intelligence official.
He detonated the explosive shortly after his debriefing began, according to one of the former intelligence officials. In addition to the eight dead, there were at least six wounded, according to the CIA.
The bodies of seven CIA employees arrived Monday at Dover Air Force Base in a small private ceremony attended by CIA Director Leon Panetta, other agency and national security officials, and friends and family.
The former senior intelligence official said one of the big unanswered questions is why so many people were present for the debriefing — the interview of the source — when the explosive was detonated.
A half-dozen former CIA officers told The Associated Press that in most cases, only one or two agency officers would typically meet with a possible informant along with an interpreter. Such small meetings would normally be used to limit the danger and the possible exposure of the identities of both officers and informants.
An online jihadist magazine in September 2009 posted an interview with al-Balawi, according to SITE Monitoring Service, a terrorist watch group that reads and translates messages on extremist forums.
SITE said Monday that al-Balawi used his pseudonym — identified as Khorsani — in the postings, describing how he rose through the ranks of online jihadist forums. He said he went to Afghanistan to fight, and he exhorted others to do violence.
"No words are more eloquent than those proven by acts, so that if that Muslim survives, he will be one who proves his words with acts. If he dies in the Cause of Allah, he will grant his words glory that will be permanent marks on the path to guide to jihad, with permission from Allah," al-Balawi wrote, according to SITE's translation.
A Jordanian government official, who was not authorized to speak to the press, said the Jordanian government has no connection to the bomber. The official said the Jordanian government had not verified whether the bomber was Jordanian.
The Taliban's Yacoub said the Jordanian intelligence officer, bin Zaid, was helping the CIA recruit agents to spy on al-Qaida in Afghanistan. Bin Zaid allegedly recruited the suicide bomber.
Jordan's state news agency Petra identified bin Zaid as an army officer on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan. It said he was killed Wednesday evening "as a martyr while performing the sacred duty of the Jordanian forces in Afghanistan." It did not provide other details.
The Jordanian military released a brief statement acknowledging bin Zaid had been killed in Afghanistan, but it did not mention he was working with Jordanian intelligence or cooperating with the CIA.
The death of bin Zaid underscored the close relationship between the Jordanian intelligence service and the CIA in the U.S. global war on terrorism.
Jordan is known to have acted as a proxy jailer for the CIA in 2004, when Jordanian intelligence officers interrogated several al-Qaida militants who were flown in on rendition flights from Guantanamo Bay.
A key U.S. ally in the Mideast, Jordan also contributed valuable intelligence data to the United States, which helped track down the former Al-Qaida in Iraq leader, Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in 2006. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq in June that year.
___
Goldman reported from New York City. Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS SUBS penultimate graf, bgng, Jordan is known ... to correct grammatical error.)

Pakistan volleyball bomb toll up

The toll from a suicide attack on a volleyball match in north-west Pakistan has continued to rise, as rescuers searched for bodies at the scene.

Ninety-three people are confirmed dead after the bombing in Lakki Marwat, and daylight has exposed the true horror, says a BBC correspondent.
Police say old people and children were watching the game when the bomber drove his vehicle onto the field.
It was the deadliest attack since a Peshawar bombing in October killed 120.

More than 600 people have died in militant attacks in Pakistan since the beginning of October, most of them believed to be in reprisal for the Pakistan army's new campaign against the Taliban.
Unusual target

ANALYSIS
By Aleem Maqbool, BBC News, Islamabad The Pakistani army's operation in South Waziristan, which began in October, was billed as the turning point in the country's fight against the Taliban.
The military says things have gone extremely well, and that it now controls most of that former Taliban stronghold.
But the period since the offensive started has coincided with a massive upsurge in militant attacks that has now claimed the lives of over 600 people right across the country.
The government says the hitting of soft civilian targets, as the one in Lakki Marwat, is proof that the militants are getting desperate, and know the authorities have the upper hand. Most Pakistanis will be unconvinced of that.

An attack on a sporting event is unusual, and no group has admitted the blast, but analysts say that is not uncommon when large numbers of civilians are killed.
Police say it may have been retaliation for attempts by Lakki Marwat residents to get rid of militants.
"Locals set up a militia and expelled the militants from this area. This attack seems to be a reaction to their expulsion," district police chief Ayub Khan told AFP news agency.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool reports from Islamabad that among those killed are believed to be members of a local peace committee who have been campaigning for an end to the violence.
Mushtaq Marwat, a member of the group, told Pakistan's Geo TV that the attack occurred as the committee was meeting in a nearby mosque.
Body parts remained strewn across the field on Saturday morning and emergency services were still searching the rubble of surrounding buildings destroyed in the attack.
On Friday evening, one witness described people using vehicle headlights to search for victims in the dark.

" There was a huge blast, we went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere "
Khalid Israr Regional official

One man who was injured in the explosion said: "All the people had gathered together watching [the game], when suddenly a [Mitsubishi] Pajero came in the middle of the field and blew up."
"Suddenly there was a huge blast. We went out and saw bodies and injured people everywhere," he said.
The military have been deployed to help local authorities with the clear-up operation.
Lakki Marwat is near North and South Waziristan, which form a lethal militant belt from where insurgents have launched attacks across north-west Pakistan, as well as into parts of eastern Afghanistan.
Our correspondent says it had been feared that while the army was congratulating itself on its campaign, militants had simply escaped to neighbouring areas such as the one where Friday's attack happened.
On Saturday, security was beefed up as a precaution for a boxing tournament in Karachi, featuring teams from India and China.
A bombing that left at least 43 people dead at a Shia Muslim march in the city last Monday has been claimed by the Taliban.
A general strike was held in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital, on Friday in protest at the attack, and the riots that followed.

RECENT MILITANT ATTACKS IN PAKISTAN

Lakki Marwat , 1 January: More than 90 killed in bombing at volleyball pitch

Karachi , 28 December: At least 43 killed in attack on Shia Muslim march

Dera Ghazi Khan , 15 December: At least 27 killed in bomb attack on market

Multan , 8 December: Intelligence agency office attacked - at least 12 killed

Peshawar : Many recent attacks - 28 October market bombing killed about 120

Lahore : Targeted several times - market bombs killed 50 on 7 December

Rawalpindi : Several recent attacks, including one at a mosque on 4 December in which 35 died

Islamabad : Security tightened after series of attacks - 20 October bombing killed nine at International Islamic University

Charsadda , 10 November: Car bomb kills 34 and wounds 100

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Published: 2010/01/02 09:36:18 GMT

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CIA chief confirms seven officers killed by Afghan bomb

Seven CIA agents were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan, the US agency's director, Leon Panetta, has confirmed.

The dead include a mother of three who was the head of the CIA's base in Khost Province, near Pakistan, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.
The Taliban said one of their members wearing an explosive vest and an army uniform had carried out the attack.
US President Barack Obama has sent a message of condolence to the agency's staff praising the dead agents.

The attack was the worst against US intelligence officials since the US embassy in Beirut was bombed in 1983.
It has raised questions about the coalition's ability to protect itself against infiltrators, analysts say.
Quoting a former senior CIA official, AP said the base chief would have led intelligence-gathering operations in Khost, a hotbed of Taliban activity because of its proximity to Pakistan's lawless border region.
The unnamed official added that the bomber was being courted as an informant and was not frisked as he entered the base.
A total of 90 CIA employees have been honoured for their deaths in the agency's service since its inception in 1947, according to the Washington Post newspaper.
'Close to the enemy'
Paying tribute to the fallen, Mr Panetta said six other agents had been injured in Wednesday's attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman.

ANALYSIS
Adam Brookes, BBC Washington correspondent
The circumstances surrounding the attack which killed seven CIA operatives at FOB Chapman, are not yet clear. However, a credible report in Washington says hat the bomber was not searched as he made his way onto the base. According to the report, he was part of an intelligence gathering operation, and was invited onto the base for a meeting with a senior CIA officer.
The attack is a very serious blow to the CIA. A great deal of experience and intelligence tradecraft will have been lost. It is unlikely however, that the attack will have placed a major obstacle to CIA operations in Afghanistan. Those operations take place on a very large scale and involve hundreds, even thousands of people.
We can anticipate that CIA officers are involved in penetrating Taliban and other insurgent networks, locating insurgent leaders for targeting and providing operational intelligence to the military.

"Those who fell yesterday were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism," he said.
"We owe them our deepest gratitude, and we pledge to them and their families that we will never cease fighting for the cause to which they dedicated their lives - a safer America."
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told the BBC the Khost bomber was wearing an army uniform when he managed to breach security at the base, detonating his explosives belt in the gym.
Mr Obama said those killed were "part of a long line of patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens, and for our way of life".
He told CIA employees that they had "taken great risks to protect our country" and that their sacrifices had "sometimes been unknown to your fellow citizens, your friends, and even your families".
'Real danger'
Earlier reports said eight CIA agents had been killed by the blast.
Neither the names of the CIA officials killed nor the details of their work were released because of the sensitivity of US operations, the agency said in a statement.
"Yesterday's tragedy reminds us that the men and women of the CIA put their lives at risk every day to protect this nation," said Mr Panetta.
"Throughout our history, the reality is that those who make a real difference often face real danger."

CIA DEATHS: 1965-2009

2009: Seven killed in suicide attack on their base in Afghanistan

2003: Two CIA contractors die in Shkin, Afghanistan; CIA officer killed during training exercise in Afghanistan

2001: Officer shot during prison uprising in Afghanistan

1993: Two CIA employees killed at the agency's Virginia headquarters

1989: Six CIA employees die when a plane carrying military equipment from DR Congo to Angola crashes

1985 : CIA Beirut station chief killed after having been kidnapped and tortured

1983: Eight CIA employees killed in the US embassy bombing in Beirut

1965: Seven CIA employees die, most of them in Vietnam Source: Washington Post

The flags at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, were to be flown at half-mast in honour of the dead, he added.
Reports say the Chapman base is used by provincial reconstruction teams - which include soldiers and civilians - and is protected by some 200 Afghan soldiers.
The base has been described as "not regular" - a phrase that implies it was a centre of CIA operations in Khost province, the BBC's Peter Greste in Kabul says.
The forward operating base is reportedly used for US drone attacks on suspected militants in neighbouring Pakistan.
In the latest such attack, two people were reportedly killed in a strike on a house in Pakistan's North Waziristan on Thursday, security officials said.
Khost province - which is one of the Taliban's strongholds - has been targeted by militants in the past year.
The number of foreign civilians deployed in Afghanistan has been rising as international efforts there focus increasingly on development and aid.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan:

• Taliban militants beheaded six men they suspected of being spies for the government in the southern province of Uruzgan, police said
• Four Canadian soldiers and a journalist died in a roadside bomb attack in Kandahar, in the most deadly attack on Canadians in the country for more than two years
• Two French journalists were kidnapped in Kapisa province, north-east of Kabul, along with their Afghan driver and interpreter, reports say

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Published: 2009/12/31 22:09:31 GMT

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Somali man 'tried to bomb plane'

A Somali man is in custody in Mogadishu, suspected of trying to take explosives onto a plane in November, officials have revealed.
He had chemicals, liquid and a syringe - materials similar to those used by the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane on Christmas Day.
The Daallo Airlines plane was due to fly to the northern Somali city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai.
The airport is in one of the few areas controlled by the Somali government.

Much of the country is in the hands of radical Islamist groups, accused of links to al-Qaeda.
'Red-handed'
But this is the first time that an attempt to blow up a commercial flight in Somalia has been reported.
"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaeda or other foreign organisations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him red-handed," police spokesman Abdulahi Hassan Barise told the Associated Press news agency.
Despite the lack of law and order in Somalia, there are daily flights to neighbouring countries such as Djibouti and Kenya.
The African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia works with the government on security in the Mogadishu airport.
US officials have learned about the Somali case and are investigating any possible links with the attempted attack in Detroit, AP reports.
Somalia has not had an effective national government for almost 20 years.

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Published: 2009/12/30 16:46:29 GMT

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