A member of Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch, suspected of trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet, was an intelligence agent of Saudi Arabia, The New York Times said citing unnamed U.S. and foreign officials.
U.S. media reported on Monday evening that CIA officers prevented an attempt to blow up “a new generation bomb” in Yemen onboard a U.S.-bound airliner. According to media reports, the attack was due to coincide with the anniversary of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan on May 2, 2011. The reports were later confirmed by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
The would-be suicide bomber turned out to be “an intelligence agent for Saudi Arabia who infiltrated the terrorist group and volunteered for the suicide mission.”
“The double agent left Yemen, traveling by way of the United Arab Emirates, and delivered both the innovative bomb designed for his air attack and critical information on the group’s leaders to the C.I.A., Saudi and other foreign intelligence agencies,” The New York Times said.
The agent, who spent many weeks at a terrorist base, provided the CIA with data, which allowed Sunday’s airstrike in Yemen, which killed Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, the group’s external operations director and one of the FBI’s ten most wanted terrorists.
He also handed over a bomb, designed to be invisible to airport security systems.
