Plastic explosives: Al-Qaeda-trained surgeons put the bomb in suicide bombers
The hunt is on for doctors implanting explosives in suicide bombers in Yemen. Security has been stepped up at airports worldwide as surgically-doctored terrorists plot revenge attacks following the one-year anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death.
The implanted bombs would be undetectable to airport body scanners, dramatically increasing the likelihood of a mid-flight terrorist attack, the Daily mail reports.Experts say explosive compounds such as PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate) could be inserted inside of would-be bombers.The implanted explosives would then be detonated via injection.A western security source is quoted by the Sunday Times as saying: “This is a transferable skill and there is still some concern.”Western intelligence agencies fear doctors are currently working with Al-Qaeda’s chief bomb maker in Yemen, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, to realize his plans.The CIA is now racing against the clock to catch the ‘body-bombers’ before they go off.Al-Asiri’s bomb plots have had a particularly intimate touch in recent years.He was responsible for sewing a packet of PETN into Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s underwear in the failed 2009 Christmas Day bombing on a US jetliner en route to Detroit. Al-Asiri also shoved a bomb up his brother Abdullah’s rectum in a botched 2009 suicide mission targeting Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muhammad bin Nayef.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen is considered the group’s most dangerous off-shoot.A would-be suicide bomber turned double-agent working with the group managed to get his hands on an updated version of al-Asiri’s underwear bomb last week. Saudi spooks planted the agent in al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate, who convinced his handlers to give him the bomb aimed at bringing down a US-bound flight.The device is now in the possession of the FBI, which is currently analyzing it.The latest non-metallic bomb would not set off metal detectors, but could be discovered by body scanners and more thorough security checks.However, not all US airports are equipped with body scanners.
