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FBI examining seized non-metallic, highly refined explosive device that could’ve passed through airport detectors; suicide mission was being planned for Osama bin Laden anniversary

The US has foiled an attempt by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to blow up a passenger plane and seized a sophisticated explosive device bearing the "hallmarks" of the 2009 underwear bomb, officials have revealed.

The Obama administration said on Monday that authorities in the Middle East recently seized an underwear bomb which they believe al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate had intended to use to blow up an airliner bound for the US or another Western country.
 
The plot was detected in its early stages, and no US airliner was ever at risk. Officials told AP that the discovery of the unexploded bomb represented an intelligence prize resulting from a covert CIA operation in Yemen, saying the intercept thwarted a suicide mission around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
 
They declined to say where the CIA seized the bomb. The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or purchased plane tickets when the CIA seized the bomb.
 
It was not immediately clear what happened to the would-be bomber.
 
The device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
 
Dick Clarke, an ABC News consultant and former White House counter-terror advisor, said: "What we know is that the bomb contained no metal parts and therefore would not normally have been detected by some of our security detectors, and it was apparently something that was going to be carried onto the plane on the body, not in the body, of the suicide bomber."
 
"As a result of close cooperation with our security and intelligence partners overseas, an Improvised Explosive Device designed to carry out a terrorist attack has been seized abroad," FBI said in a statement. The new intercepted bomb is "a highly refined detonation system" . FBI said it currently had possession of the IED and was conducting technical and forensics analysis on it.
 
"Initial investigation indicates that the device is very similar to IEDs that have been used previously by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in attempted terrorist attacks, including against aircraft and for targeted assassinations," the statement said.
 
President Barack Obama was informed about the plot in April, and the attempt "underscores the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad," the White House said.

A brief history of UNDERWEAR BOMBS

US official said the latest underwear bomb appeared to be similar to the work of fugitive Saudi militant Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who US believe is a bomb-maker working with AQAP.

It has design features which are somewhat more sophisticated than the bombs used in two attempted attacks in 2009.

In the first incident, a man with a bomb in his underwear tried to attack Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a Saudi Arabian counter-terrorism official.

The bomber killed himself, but the prince survived.

On Christmas Day that year, Nigerian-born Umar Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a bomb in his underpants on a flight from the Netherlands to Detroit. The device burst into flames but its explosive charge did not detonate. Abdulmutallab was subdued by fellow passengers and later jailed.