The Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner embarrassed President Barack Obama and put him on the defensive, but there may be a silver lining for U.S. authorities, it may provide new intelligence on al Qaeda.
A Nigerian charged in the incident, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, spent months in Yemen and told investigators he had trained with al Qaeda militants who took refuge there to plot attacks against Americans.
The White House says he is already providing useful information. "Abdulmutallab spent a number of hours with FBI investigators in which we gleaned usable actionable intelligence," spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Tuesday.
Potentially facing decades in prison, the 23-year-old Abdulmutallab could try to cut a plea deal with prosecutors in exchange for information he has about other plots, where he trained in Yemen and details about al Qaeda members he met.
That could be valuable in light of reports that Abdulmutallab, who attempted to blow up a transatlantic airliner as it approached Detroit, told investigators after he was captured that more attackers like him were on the way.
"We are continuing to look at ways that we can extract that information from him," Obama's top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said on Sunday. "I think we have to assume that there are others out there."
However, Obama's Republican opponents -- led by former Vice President Dick Cheney -- have strongly opposed the idea of trying Abdulmutallab in a criminal court rather than a military tribunal, where looser interrogation rules apply.
They also have harshly criticized the idea of a plea deal.
"The administration's treatment could afford a murderous terrorist the opportunity to negotiate a plea bargain and a lesser punishment -- and that is not acceptable," said Rep. Eric Cantor, a top Republican in the House of Representatives.
Even with a plea deal, that would not necessarily mean that Abdulmutallab would get a lighter sentence. Convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid pleaded guilty and will be incarcerated for the rest of his life in a U.S. prison.
"Individuals in the past have, in fact, given us very valuable information as they've gone through the plea agreement process," Brennan said.
WHAT DOES HE REALLY KNOW?
Abdulmutallab was quick to tell investigators that he had trained in Yemen with al Qaeda operatives and they had given him the bomb and instructions on how to detonate it aboard the Detroit-bound jumbo jet, U.S. officials said.
Now he has a court-appointed lawyer who can help him navigate the U.S. legal system and potentially bargain for any other information he possesses, if indeed he has any.
One former counterterrorism official expressed some skepticism about what the young man can tell investigators about al Qaeda in Yemen because he was a foot soldier rather than a leader and al Qaeda is made up of many separate cells.
Also he could offer old information or details designed to misdirect U.S. authorities.
"They're going to do everything they can to glean information," said Rick Nelson, director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Homeland Security Program. "I just don't see this guy helping us that much."
"The best this guy might be able to do is lead U.S. intelligence and law enforcement to the people he dealt with directly, but it's not going to lead up the chain of command to a long line of senior al Qaeda leaders," he said.
While Republicans have criticized the Obama administration's decision to pursue charges against Abdulmutallab in a U.S. criminal court rather than a military tribunal, that route has seen some recent success.
In October, American David Headley was initially charged in a federal criminal court for plotting and scouting targets for an attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in 2005, which offended many Muslims.
After he was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, he began cooperating with investigators and revealed that he had also helped scout targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba -- the first American to be connected to that attack.
His cooperation led U.S. authorities to charge him for his alleged role in that attack, in which six Americans died, as well as providing new details about how an American was recruited, potentially helping deal with a new fear: the radicalization of Americans sympathetic to such causes.
It is not clear when the US embassy in Sanaa will reopen
Yemeni security forces have been fighting militants
The US has shut its embassy in Yemen's capital Sanaa, citing "ongoing threats" by an al-Qaeda offshoot linked to an alleged failed US plane bomb plot.
In a statement on its website, the embassy reminded US citizens in Yemen to be vigilant and aware of security.
It comes a day after top US soldier Gen David Petraeus visited Yemen to pledge US support for its fight with al-Qaeda.
There is mounting Western concern that Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, is becoming an al-Qaeda haven.
"The US Embassy in Sanaa is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to attack American interests in Yemen," said a statement on the embassy website on Sunday.
It is not clear when the mission will reopen.
'Tighten the noose'
The embassy was the target of an attack in September 2008, which was blamed on al-Qaeda, and in which 19 people died, including a young American woman.
On Saturday, President Barack Obama accused al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula of orchestrating a failed Christmas Day attack on a US plane.
The group said last week it had trained 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who spent time in Yemen last year, to carry out the attempted bombing of the airliner over Detroit.
In its internet statement, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula urged Muslims to help in "killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places".
Also on Saturday, Gen Petraeus, head of US Middle East and Central Asian operations, visited Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh to discuss the militant threat.
It came a day after the general announced that the US would more than double counter-terrorism aid to Yemen this year.
The US provided $67m (£41m) in training and support to Yemen last year; only Pakistan receives more, with about $112m, according to AP news agency.
Yemeni officials said on Saturday they had sent more troops to fight al-Qaeda militants in the provinces of Abyan, Baida and Shabwa.
"These measures are part of operations to hunt down elements of al-Qaeda... and tighten the noose around extremists," a Yemeni official told AFP news agency.
Analysts say the US has also provided intelligence to Yemeni forces, which carried out raids on 17 and 24 December that reportedly left more than 60 militants dead.
In his weekly address, President Obama said he had made it "a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government, training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al-Qaeda terrorists".
'New type of threat'
He said training camps had already "been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC on Sunday that the UK would work with the US to step up Yemen's counter-terrorism efforts.
"This is a new type of threat and it is from a new source which is obviously Yemen," said Mr Brown, "but there are many other potential sources Somalia, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Yemen was thrust to the top of the Western security agenda in October 2000, when 17 US sailors died in an al-Qaeda suicide attack on the USS Cole destroyer in the port of Aden.
Correspondents say the Yemeni government needs economic as well as military aid.
With a fast-growing and impoverished population, the country is facing diminishing water reserves and the likelihood that its only source of income, oil, will run dry in a few years.
But security is just as big a challenge, complicated by an abundance of firearms, an insurgency in the north and a secessionist movement in the south.
While the government is weak and unpopular in much of the country, the US has little choice but to work through it to fight al-Qaeda as any overt US presence would almost certainly provoke a public backlash.
But the prospects of re-asserting central government authority over the lawless areas where al-Qaeda is based look, in the opinion of some analysts, remote - even with beefed-up American support.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab spent the year of 2004-5 at the Sana Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen.
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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb an airplane last week, already spoke fluent Arabic by the time he arrived here in Yemen for classes last summer, impressing his instructors with his command of the language he had supposedly come to improve.
Then, after six weeks in and out of class, the school got him an exit visa, and on Sept. 21 even arranged for a car that took Mr. Abdulmutallab to the airport, the director said.
“After that we never saw him again, and apparently he did not leave Yemen,” the director, Muhammed al-Anisi, said. “We heard later that he may have gone to Hadramawt,” the poor eastern province where Al Qaeda is strong, and from where Osama bin Laden’s father left poverty to make his fortune in Saudi Arabia.
In retrospect, Mr. Anisi suspects, Mr. Abdulmutallab simply used the school as a formal pretext to legally re-enter Yemen last summer after being recruited elsewhere by Al Qaeda.
“I do wonder if the school was an excuse,” he said, noting that Mr. Abdulmutallab remained in Yemen after his visa expired, disappearing into Yemen’s Qaeda training grounds and emerging on Christmas Day to try to blow up a packed airplane heading to Detroit. When he left Yemen in December, the authorities here acknowledge, no one stopped Mr. Abdulmutallab for overstaying his visa.
Mr. Anisi spoke publicly on Thursday for the first time, after three days of questioning by the Yemeni security services. His office is adorned with numerous framed certificates of appreciation for his teaching from the American Peace Corps, which closed its program years ago. Now Mr. Anisi is distraught at what is happening to the reputation of his language school.
Mr. Abdulmutallab had spent the academic year of 2004-2005 at this school, the Sana Institute for the Arabic Language, whose slogan is “Arabic with authenticity.” Back then, his Arabic was rudimentary, but he enjoyed his life here, including the presence of a Pizza Hut and a KFC. Afterward, Mr. Abdulmutallab went to school in London and became increasingly devout and then increasingly radical in his views.
Mr. Anisi wonders, like other analysts, where Mr. Abdulmutallab was recruited by Al Qaeda before coming back here, and whether his return to Yemen last summer, and to the language school, was organized for him to undergo training.
Thursday was Mr. Anisi’s first day back at work after the questioning. He was not formally arrested, and the security forces were polite, he said, but he insisted that he had no real key to the transformation of Mr. Abdulmutallab, now 23, whom he described in his latest period here as increasingly devout, generous, invariably polite and yet also unsociable.
Mr. Abdulmutallab was the only African student in the school of 70 students, and by the time he returned to the school here on Aug. 4, purportedly to improve his Arabic, “I found his Arabic was already so good, he was not really benefiting from the courses but was at the top of his class,” Mr. Anisi said.
Mr. Abdulmutallab often skipped class but did not seem to have many Yemeni friends, Mr. Anisi said, and other foreign students at the school said his devotion to Islam, including attendance at nearby mosques in the old city for prayer five times a day, cut him off from others. On the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan, Mr. Abdulmutallab performed “Itikaf,” remaining in the mosque for prayer and Koranic readings, concentrating on the divine, and isolated from excessive socializing, eating and sleeping.
“Even that was not strange to me,” Mr. Anisi said. “Many devout Yemenis do the same.”
One of Mr. Abdulmutallab’s fellow students offered a similar assessment. “He only showed up for a few classes, and then he said he wanted to focus on prayer and Ramadan,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity and referred to the Islamic holy month that began this year in late August.
While always polite, Mr. Abdulmutallab once cut off another student, an American named Sigurd Sorensen, from walking in front of him while he was praying, Mr. Sorensen told reporters. The two later apologized to each other. Other students said Mr. Abdulmutallab never played music in his room, but often was reading the Koran.
Mr. Anisi started this school in 2000, in a beautiful old house in the Tabariya neighborhood of Old Sana. At first, the school attracted numerous British citizens and Americans learning Arabic at colleges and universities who wanted to study it intensively and live immersed in the language.
But Al Qaeda’s attack on the U.S.S. Cole happened here that year, and then there were the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and now, Mr. Anisi said sadly, “there are very few Americans or Europeans who come.”
Most of the students here are from Indonesia and Malaysia, and some from South Korea and China. Many students are not Muslim, though most female students veil themselves when they go outside, following local custom.
“I remember him as very friendly, quiet and respectful,” Mr. Anisi said of Mr. Abdulmutallab. “You would never imagine he would do this horrible thing. From smiling and helping to killing, I can’t believe it. We taught him Arabic here, not religion.”
AbdulMatubalah a rich banker son , is in the Terrorist watch list but still able to board a US bound plane.Failure to ignite the PETN explosion strap inside his underwear suffer burn on legs and were jump on by passenger.Al Qeada praise him on website , saying he bravely went on his mission.
President Obama on Tuesday blamed a “systemic failure” in the nation’s security apparatus for the attempted bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day and vowed to identify the problems and “deal with them immediately.”
Making his second public statement on the matter in as many days, Mr. Obama said a preliminary assessment already has made clear that there was a breakdown in the intelligence review system that did not properly identify the suspect as a dangerous extremist who should have been prevented from flying to the United States.
“A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama told reporters here in Hawaii, where is in the middle of a 10-day holiday vacation. The president said he has ordered government agencies to report back to him on Thursday about what happened and said he would “insist on accountability at every level,” although he did not elaborate.
The president’s blunt words came just two days after his secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, drew criticism for saying that “the system worked” after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to ignite explosive chemicals aboard a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit. Ms. Napolitano quickly recalibrated her statement to make clear she meant that the system worked in its response to the incident after it occurred. But Mr. Obama’s sharp assessment Tuesday sent a signal that he was not satisfied by the government’s performance.
Mr. Obama took no questions but referred obliquely to Ms. Napolitano’s statement by saying she was right that “once the suspect attempted to take down Flight 253, after his attempt, it’s clear that passengers and crew, our homeland security systems and our aviation security took all appropriate actions.”
He went on to praise the professionalism of the nation’s intelligence, counterterrorism, homeland security and law enforcement officials. But he spared little in his withering judgment of what he called a "mix of human and systemic failures" that did not catch Mr. Abdulmutallab in the first place.
The president suggested that he would overhaul the nation’s watch-list system. “We’ve achieved much since 9/11 in terms of collecting information that relates to terrorists and potential terrorist attacks,” he said. “But it’s becoming clear that the system that has been in place for years now is not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have.”
Mr. Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who claims links to a branch of Al Qaeda, came to the attention of American authorities when his father went to the embassy last month to report that his son had become radicalized. The father, a respected retired banker, did not say his son planned to attack Americans but sought help locating him and bringing him home, according to American officials.
The embassy sent a cable to Washington that resulted in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s name being entered in a broad database of 550,000 people with possible ties to terrorism. But he was not put on the much smaller no-fly list of 4,000 people, or a list of 14,000 people who require additional screening before flying, nor was his multiple-entry visa to the United States revoked.
“It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list,” Mr. Obama said of the father’s warning. “There appears to be other deficiencies as well. Even without this one report, there were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together.”
Fears over airport security could leave millions of passengers facing the indignity of a 'naked' body scan and paying higher fares to fund it.
Hi-tech body scanners can see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives such as those used in the failed Christmas Day plot.
They produce an anatomical image of passengers' bodies, including breasts and genitalia, and have been attacked as too intrusive. Critics have described them as a 'virtual strip search'.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the Government was looking at the use of the full body scanners, but admitted there were cost and privacy issues.
The scanners are on a year's trial at Manchester Airport, where security officers have already been banned from using them on children following warnings that the images could break child pornography laws which outlaw the creation of images of youngsters.
The machines cost £80,000 each, meaning it would cost millions to install them in all of Britain's airports. Inevitably the cost would be handed on to passengers through higher air fares.
But security experts have said they would speed up safety checks by quickly revealing any concealed weapons or explosives. Dutch airport authorities said yesterday that they would make the new scanners mandatory after syringe bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board his flight from Amsterdam to Detroit without the explosive sewn into his underwear being detected.
Heightened security ordered by the U.S. in the wake of the failed bomb plot has caused massive delays on both sides of the Atlantic, as airports struggle to cope with the new measures.
The machines would speed up checks as they eliminate the need for passengers to take off their shoes, belts, coats and scarves and would reduce the number who were then subjected to 'pat-down' searches.
Instead, the fully-clothed passenger steps between two screens and is instructed to stand with fingers touching the sides of the head, to provide a clear image of the body.
The machine performs a simultaneous front and back scan using electromagnetic waves, similar to a low-level X-ray.
According to the manufacturer, Rapiscan, passengers can be scanned safely up to 5,000 times a year. They say a dental X-ray produces 20,000 times more radiation.
The scans show every contour of the body, including intimate areas, and also reveal body piercings, colostomy bags, false limbs and even breast enlargements.
Airport security officers inspect the images in a separate office, away from the scanner, to reduce the potential embarrassment for passengers.
If the scan is clear the whole process should take around 20 seconds, and the image is then deleted. If security officers see anything suspect, the passenger is searched.
Officials have said the images cannot be stored or captured, but the scheme has led to fears that scans of celebrities could be leaked on to the internet.
Civil rights campaigners have expressed fears that the scans are too intrusive and could prove offensive, particularly for Muslim women. Security officers at Manchester have been warned not to scan under-18s over fears that the legislation could lead to them facing criminal charges.
There have been no known terrorism arrests at Manchester since the trial began in October. It is not known if the machines have been used to detect other offences at the airport.
When the trial ends in ten months, the Government will decide if the scanners should be used nationwide.
In the scheme, passengers can opt not to have a full body scan and to go through a traditional metal detector and 'pat-down' search instead.
But critics have questioned how useful an 'optional' search is, and whether it would be feasible if the scanners are installed permanently.
The Home Secretary said the Government would weigh the privacy and cost issues against national security.
* Al Qaeda warned of fresh terror attack on December 21 * New security measures will mean increased delays at airport * President Obama orders review of airline security * Alleged bomber was on security database but wasn't considered threat * Student suspect was barred from Britain
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Detroit bound Delta Airlines plane on Christmas day
Hero: Jasper Schuringa who tackled Abdulmutallab on Flight 253
Dr Umaru Abdulmutallab, the rich father of Delta plane attack suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has warned to authorities about his son fanatic views.
Drama: The moment the bomber was taken into custody, as captured on a mobile phone
Injected a liquid into powder packets tie on leg and cause smoke and fire to occur.Bad burn on legs.
A page from the FBI affidavit against Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
A still from an internet video posted online on December 21, showing a man who calls himself Mohammed al-Kalwi (right), warning of a new terror attack
* Al Qaeda warned of fresh terror attack on December 21 * New security measures will mean increased delays at airport * President Obama orders review of airline security * Alleged bomber was on security database but wasn't considered threat * Student suspect was barred from Britain
President Obama ordered an urgent review of airline security tonight, demanding to know how a former British student identified as a terror risk was allowed to board transatlantic plane before attempting to blow it up.
The move came as a second incident on a plane at the same airport caused a major security scare.
A man was removed from the flight after becoming verbally disruptive on landing. It later transpired he posed no security risk.
Tonight it also emerged that Al Qaeda had warned of a terror attack just days before the attempt to bring down the jet carrying 278 passengers.
In a chilling video posted on an extremist internet on December 21, a bearded man in head-dress warned: 'We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God.'
The man, identified as Mohammed al-Kalwi, continued: 'O soldiers, you should learn that we do not want to fight you, nor do we have an issue with you. We only have an issue with America and its agents, and beware of standing in the ranks of America.
Tonight there were question marks over why known radical Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was allowed to evade security, as it became clear just how close he came to downing the jet.
Even his millionaire father had warned authorities that he believed his son may be a risk.
President Obama wants to know how he was allowed to board the plane and also ordered a review of security watch-lists in the US after it emerged the Nigerian was placed on a list as a terror risk.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on American news channel NBC the President called for 'a review to ... figure out why an individual with the chemical explosive he had on him could get on a plane in Amsterdam and fly into the United States.' It has emerged that Abdulmutallab tried to emulate convicted terrorist Richard Reid by using the same PETN high explosive the shoe bomber used in his failed airliner attack in 2001.
After sitting silently for most of the eight-hour flight, he made his move on Christmas morning as the plane approached Detroit.
The 23-year-old son of a wealthy Nigerian banker was charged in hospital last night with attempting to destroy the aircraft during its final approach to Detroit airport on Christmas Day, the US Justice Department said.
Four weeks ago Abdulmutallab's father told the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son's religious beliefs. This information was passed on to U.S. intelligence officials.The alleged bomber was also on a separate U.S. terror database, but was not considered an immediate threat. His name was absent from 'no-fly' lists.
Abdulmutallab, who had previously been living in a luxury mansion block while studying at University College London, was also charged with with placing a destructive device on the Northwest Airlines Flight 253.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Abdulmutallab had a device attached to his body when he boarded the aircraft in Amsterdam on Christmas Eve.
As the flight was approaching Detroit Airport, he was said to have set off the device, which resulted in a fire and what appears to have been an explosion.
A preliminary FBI analysis found that it contained a high explosive known as PETN or pentaerythritol. FBI agents were also said recovered what appeared to be the remnants of the syringe found near Abdulmutallab's seat, which is believed to have been part of the device. The use of small amounts of liquids and powder suggests he managed to circumvent the ban on taking all but limited quantities of liquids on to flights.
As a result, beefed-up security measures have been introduced on flights bound for the US.
They include extra body and hand luggage searches at the departure gate and a requirement that passengers remain seated for the final hour of flight. Air Canada has also said that during the last hour passengers will not be allowed access to carry-on baggage or to have any items on their laps. Passengers have been told to expect delays.
Meanwhile, the suspect's former teacher revealed his fellow pupils nicknamed him 'The Pope' because he was so well-liked.
But Michael Rimmer, a Briton who taught history at the British International School in Lome, Togo, says that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab also defended the Taliban during a lesson and complaining when Rimmer took classmates to a London pub.
Rimmer also revealed how Abdulmutallab had many Christian friends at the school.
In a telephone interview today, he described the school as a multicultural place where Christians students participated in Islamic feasts and Muslims often sang Christmas carols.
US attorney general Eric Holder said: 'Had this alleged plot to destroy an airplane been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured.
'We will continue to investigate this matter vigorously, and we will use all measures available to our government to ensure that anyone responsible for this attempted attack is brought to justice.'
According to the affidavit, interviews with the passengers and crew of Flight 253 revealed that before the incident Abdulmutallab went to the aircraft's bathroom for approximately 20 minutes.
When he returned to his seat, he said that he had an upset stomach and pulled a blanket over himself.
Passengers then heard what were described as popping noises similar to firecrackers and some reported seeing Abdulmutallab's trouser leg and the inner wall of the aircraft on fire.
Film producer Jasper Schuringa from Amsterdam was sitting in seat 20G when the device ignited. He leapt over the back of the seat and scrambled over four other passengers to pummel Abdulmutallab. Mr Schuringa then saw a ‘burning object’ – which he said resembled a small, white shampoo bottle – between the student’s legs. Mr Schuringa said: ‘It was smoking and there were flames coming from beneath his legs. I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands then threw it away.’
He screamed: ‘Water! Water!’ as he pulled Abdulmutallab out of his seat and dragged him to the front of the plane.
Fellow passengers poured bottles of water on the blaze, while flight attendants tackled the flames with fire extinguishers. Mr Schuringa said Abdulmutallab seemed dazed. ‘He was staring into nothing,’ he said.
The producer said he then stripped off Abdulmutallab’s clothes to make sure he did not have other explosives on his body. A crew member helped handcuff him.
He said other passengers applauded as he walked back to his seat.
‘I don’t feel like a hero,’ he said: ‘It was something that came completely naturally. I had to do something or it would be too late. My hands are pretty burned, but I am fine.
I am shaken up. I am happy to be here.’
A fellow passenger, Stephanie van Herk, 22, who was sitting one row in front of Abdulmutallab, said she heard a loud bang, then saw a flame leap from the student’s lap as smoke filled the air. ‘The flame was higher than the seat,’ she said.
‘Then everyone started screaming. It was panic. Flight attendants shouted, “What are you doing? What are you doing?’’
‘They called for water and the man began pulling down his burning trousers.’
Another passenger, Melinda Dennis, said: ‘Abdulmutallab’s entire leg was burned. But he didn’t show any reaction to the pain.’
Abdulmutallab was to have been 'calm and lucid' throughout the incident.
When one flight attendant asked him what he had had in his pocket, and he replied: 'explosive device.'
On landing, Abdulmutallab was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Centre for treatment to his injuries. He will make his initial court appearance today.
US District Judge Paul Borman read out the charges to Abdulmutallab in a conference room at the medical centre where he is continuing to receive treatment for burns.
Agents brought him into the room in a wheelchair, a blanket over his lap and wearing a green hospital robe.
Abdulmutallab - who was said to have been travelling on a valid US visa - initially boarded a KLM flight in Lagos, Nigeria, before transferring to the Northwest Airlines flight at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
Following his arrest he was said to have told US investigators that he had been acting on instructions from al Qaeda which instructed him to blow up an airliner over American soil.
Gordon Brown said the Government would take 'whatever action was necessary' to protect airline passengers.
Security sources said that both the police and MI5 were diverting extra staff and resources to the investigation as a matter of priority in order to establish the significance of the 'London link'.
They acknowledged that it was possible that Abdulmutallab may have cropped up in the peripheries of other counter-terrorism investigations.
Earlier in London, police search teams were seen entering the imposing mansion block in Mansfield Road, close to Oxford Street, where Abdulmutallab had been living. Records showed that flats in the block sold this year for between £1.65 million and £3.15 million.
Both police and college sources confirmed that Abdulmutallab had been enrolled as a student at University College London on a course in mechanical engineering between 2005 and 2008.
Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, a former minister and chairman of First Bank in Nigeria, also confirmed his son Umar had studied in London before going travelling.
He said he was not sure of his son's whereabouts but that he had not lived in London 'for some time'. Nigeria's This Day newspaper reported family members as saying that Abdulmutallab's father was uncomfortable with his son's extreme Islamic views.
Mr Mutallab was said to have reported his activities to the US embassy in Abuja as well as Nigerian security agencies.
According to reports, the family claim Abdulmutallab was radicalised while attending the British International School in Lome, the capital of Togo.
Briton Michael Rimmer, who claimed to have taught the suspect, told BBC News 24: 'I remember him talking about Afghanistan - when the Taliban were in control, he thought they were OK. It did surprise me.' However, a cousin of Abdulmutallab, Mohammed Mutallab, told the Sunday Telegraph that the family believed the alleged bomber had been radicalised in Britain.
A US law enforcement source said Abdulmutallab's name surfaced on at least one US intelligence database but not to the extent that he was placed on a watch list or a no-fly list.
Intelligence and anti-terrorism officials in Yemen were also investigating claims by the suspect that he picked up the explosive device and instructions on how to use it in that country.
Delays were caused at UK airports today as security was stepped up for passengers flying to the US. Questions were raised over how the suspect was able to board the plane in Holland and almost cause catastrophe on Christmas Day.
Mr Brown said he had been contact with Sir Paul Stephenson, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, because of the 'serious potential threat'.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said police were working with their American counterparts to establish the full background to the incident.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said delays were caused to transatlantic flights as a result of heightened security.
Although general airport security remained the same with no change to luggage and liquid restrictions, passengers travelling to the US were told they could only take one item of hand luggage.
The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government's many terror databases since November after his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria.
However, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to the attention of intelligence officials months before that, according to a U.S. government official involved in the investigation.
Still, none of the information the government had on Abdulmutallab rose to the level of putting him on the official terror watch list or no-fly list.
Abdulmutallab claimed to have received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen, law enforcement officials said. He is also believed to have had Internet contact with militant Islamic radicals.
While intelligence officials said Saturday that they are taking seriously Abdulmutallab's claims that the plot originated with al-Qaeda's network inside Yemen, several added that they had to yet to see independent confirmation.
Four weeks ago, Abdulmutallab's father told the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son's religious beliefs. This information was passed on to U.S. intelligence officials.
Abdulmutallab received a valid U.S. visa in June 2008 that is good through 2010.
His is one of about 550,000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, known as TIDE, which is maintained by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Centre and was created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Intelligence officials said they lacked enough information to place him in the 400,000-person terror watch list or on the no-fly list of fewer than 4,000 people who should be blocked from air travel.
The FBI gave the "all clear" on Sunday after an investigation of what it said was a "non-serious" incident on an Amsterdam to Detroit flight.
Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said a Nigerian man was taken into custody by the FBI and no explosives were found. The man went to the bathroom repeatedly and did not respond to flight attendants' direction an hour before landing.
"The Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated and the investigation shows that this is a nonserious incident and all is clear at this point," said Detroit FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtolv.
Police search a propertie in central London after a man was charged with trying to blow up a US airliner.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Detroit bound Delta Airlines plane on Christmas day
Hero: Jasper Schuringa who tackled Abdulmutallab on Flight 253
Dr Umaru Abdulmutallab, the rich father of Delta plane attack suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.Mr Mutallab had warned the authorities about his son's extreme views.
Drama: The moment the bomber was taken into custody, as captured on a mobile phone
The exclusive block of flats in central London where the suspect lived until 2008
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is thought to have tried to cut ties with his family.
Mr Abdulmutallab's family said they would cooperate with any enquiry
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic flight on Christmas Day, appears to have lived a life of privilege.
As the son of one of Nigeria's most prominent businessmen he had access to international travel and a world-class education. He has been described by one former British teacher as a dream student.
But people close to him have said he was increasingly showing extremist views in recent years. His family told the BBC they had not heard from him since October.
Mr Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, said he had approached the US and Nigerian authorities to warn them about his son's views six months before the alleged attempt to destroy the flight to Detroit.
Nigerian media quoted Mr Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, as saying his son first became radicalised while studying in Lome, Togo.
Michael Rimmer, a Briton who taught him history at the British School in Lome (BSL), told the BBC Mr Abdulmutallab had been "every teacher's dream - very keen, enthusiastic, very bright, very polite".
He had excelled in Islamic scholarship at the British school and gained a reputation for preaching to other students, said Mr Rimmer.
Mr Rimmer said his former student had always been "very religious" and occasionally aired opinions which were "a bit over the top".
"In 2001 we had a number of class discussions about the Taliban. All the other Muslim kids in the class thought they were just a bunch of nutters, but Umar spoke in their defence," said Mr Rimmer.
But he assumed Mr Abdulmutallab was "just playing devil's advocate, trying to keep the discussion going".
Mr Rimmer said that if his former student had carried out the attempted bombing, it would be "such a terrible waste" and his parents would be devastated.
Efemena Mokedi, a classmate of Mr Abdulmutallab and who played on the same basketball team, said he was shocked to hear what had happened.
"You would never expect this coming from him, he's a very good guy, a very good chap to hang out with," he told the BBC.
"He was very sociable, he comes from a wealthy background, he's well educated ... the numbers do not add up," he said.
Contact severed
Between 2005 and 2008, Mr Abdulmutallab is thought to have been enrolled on a course in mechanical engineering at the prestigious University College London.
The college confirmed that a student of that name had attended during that time but could not say if it was the same person.
Media reports say Mr Abdulmutallab lived in comfort during his studies, in an apartment in a smart neighbourhood of west London which has since been raided by British police.
After graduating in 2008, he told his family he wanted to continue learning, by moving to an Arab country to study Arabic.
His family told the BBC Mr Abdulmutallab's parents decided to send him to Dubai to study for a post-graduate degree in business management, thinking he would benefit from its cosmopolitan nature and would not be exposed to extremist influences.
But despite his parents' objections, he abandoned the course before it was finished, saying he was no longer interested and had found an alternative course in Yemen.
He said the seven-year programme would cost nothing and that it did not matter if his Nigerian passport expired - he would be able to obtain a Yemeni one.
When his mother contacted him to urge him to reconsider, Mr Abdulmutallab told her not to get in touch again as he had found "a new life" and they no longer had any ties to him.
It was at this point, the BBC was told, that Mr Mutallab attempted to travel to Yemen to bring his son home. He also sought help from the US, Nigerian and Saudi authorities, telling them he was concerned by his son's behaviour.
'Isolated incident'
The Mutallab family, who have said they will co-operate fully with any investigation, say they have had no contact with Mr Abdulmutallab since October, when he was in Yemen.
They have since been told by US officials that he left Yemen, travelling to Ethiopia and Ghana and finally Nigeria, from where he embarked on his alleged bombing mission.
Despite being on a US terrorism database, Mr Abdulmutallab was not on a list of people banned from flying in the country.
He was able to fly from Lagos to Amsterdam and then board a plane bound for Detroit with high explosives allegedly sewn into his clothing. He was badly burned when he tried to detonate the explosives, eyewitnesses said.
Mr Abdulmutallab is reported to have told investigators he had links to al-Qaeda and had received his explosives in Yemen.
But religious leaders in Nigeria have been quick to condemn his actions.
The country's Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs said the alleged attack was an "isolated incident" which did not point to a wider problem with Islamist militancy in Nigeria.
"We are embarrassed by this incident and we strongly condemn the alleged action by this young man," the Council's secretary general, Lateef Adegbite, told the AFP news agency.
"We do not think that there is any organised Islamic group in Nigeria that is inclined to such a criminal and violent act. We condemn such an extreme viewpoint and action."
Security alert: A man with suspected links to Al Qaeda allegedly tried to blow up a plane as it prepared to land in Detroit. Police are searching addresses in central London after it emerged the man was a student at University College London
Warm welcome: Zan Jafry (left) helps his father Syed Jafry, who was aboard the affected flight, with his coat
Relief: Jeannia Samimi ( left), pictured with her daughters Emily and Amber, waits for her daughter Jasmin to disembark the Northwest flight
Security alert: Police patrol the airport following the attempted attack
Personnel swarm around Northwest Airlines Flight 253 after a Nigerian suspect allegedly tried to detonate a powdery substance
Onward bound: Shocked passengers from the flight leave the Detroit terminal
Searches are being carried out in central London after a man with suspected links to Al Qaeda allegedly tried to blow up a transatlantic plane, Scotland Yard said today.
Security has been stepped up at UK airports for passengers flying to the US, the Department for Transport said.
The Nigerian suspect allegedly tried to detonate a powdery substance on a flight from Amsterdam as it prepared to land at Detroit with 278 people on board. US law enforcement officials identified the suspect as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab.
The 23-year-old is reportedly an engineering student at University College London.
A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said: 'We are in liaison with the US authorities.
'Searches are being carried out at addresses in central London.'
She refused to give further details.
It is understood from security sources that police and MI5 will want to see 'as a matter of priority' the significance of any time that he spent in the UK.
It is also understood that extra staff and resources have been assigned to the investigation.
One of the key priorities will be to check whether he has cropped up in the course of any other investigations. A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: 'In response to events in Detroit the US authorities have requested additional measures for US-bound flights.
'We are monitoring the situation and will make any assessments as necessary as this develops.'
Although general airport security remains the same, with no change to luggage and liquid restrictions, passengers travelling to the US can expect increased searches at the gate before boarding.
Airport operator BAA said in a statement: 'Passengers travelling to the United States should expect their airline to carry out additional security checks prior to boarding.
'To support this important process, which will take time, we would advise passengers to leave more time to check in and limit the amount of baggage being taken on board the aircraft.
'If in any doubt, please contact the relevant airline for further information.' Passengers scrambled to subdue the man after the attempted attack on the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 yesterday.
Dutch passenger Peter Smith said: 'It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase.
'First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke.'
He said one passenger appeared to have been burned after climbing across other passengers to try to restrain the alleged attacker.
Shortly afterwards, the suspect was apparently taken to a front row seat with his trousers cut off and his legs badly burned.
The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism.
The US government has tightened airport screening measures as a result of the incident, which is reminiscent of a terror attempt by 'shoe bomber' Richard Reid.
The Briton tried to destroy a transatlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes. He was subdued by other passengers and is serving a life sentence in the US.
A US law enforcement source said Mutallab's name surfaced on at least one US intelligence database but not to the extent that he was placed on a watch list or a no-fly list. US sources also claimed the man claimed to have been instructed by Al Qaeda to detonate the plane over US soil.
But other law enforcement officials said this could not be immediately verified and the man may have been acting independently.
The man was being treated in an Ann Arbor, Michigan, hospital.
The White House said President Barack Obama discussed the incident with security officials and was monitoring the situation from his holiday spot in Hawaii.
The Homeland Security Department encouraged travellers to be observant and aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious behaviour.
Terrorism expert Dr Sally Leivesley told BBC News: 'This looks as though it is a first attempt of a new way to use the body to conceal explosives.
'In the past it was a can of liquid explosive.
'Now they may be concealing the explosives on the human body, but on the inside upper leg, and we only know this by seeing a very badly burnt leg on the suspected perpetrator.'
She said the suspect may have used a syringe to conceal a chemical used for detonation.
Aviation expert Chris Yates told BBC News: 'Security is not 100 per cent at airports anywhere in the world, that's been shown time and time again. The security processes are relatively robust but we can't head off every single threat.
'Why did this individual not get a second screening having come off a flight from Nigeria apparently?
'He should have, if he had been monitored by the intelligence services, he should have been identified as a person who they have an interest in.'
