Suspected Al-Qaeda militants drive through the streets of Azzan in the southern Yemeni province of Shabwa on April 3, 2012, with loudspeakers attached to their vehicle on which a flag bearing the name of Prophet Mohammed flutters. Media report says Al-Qaeda is now plotting a terrorist attack on a US airliner. AFP PHOTO/STR
LONDON – Al-Qaeda is plotting a terrorist attack on a US airliner, Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper reported, citing intelligence sources.
The broadsheet said Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had recruited a Norwegian Muslim convert and given him terrorist training in Yemen, and that the group were believed to have selected a US passenger jet as a target.
“The Norwegian recruit goes under the Islamic name of Muslim Abu Abdurrahman,” the newspaper said.
“He is understood to be in his thirties and a ‘clean skin’, with no previous criminal record. He converted in 2008 and quickly became radicalized.
“He later travelled to Yemen, where he has spent several months, to complete his training.”
The CIA foiled a similar AQAP plot to blow up a US-bound airliner in May, reportedly using a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide attack.
AQAP has been linked to the 2009 Christmas plot in which a bomb hidden in a Nigerian attacker’s underwear failed to detonate on a plane bound for Detroit.
It is also suspected of having a hand in a 2010 attempt to blow up cargo planes heading to the United States with explosives concealed in printer cartridges.