The charred remains of jet bomber's underwear in which he hid explosives to blow up plane

Under arrest: The moment the bomber was secured by officers was captured by passenger Jasper Schuringa

'He went in bravely without fear of death': Abdulmutallab pictured by Al Qaeda alongside its statement

Caught: Abdulmutallab in custody

Bomb plot: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's charred underwear where he hid explosives

Detonator: The remains of a syringe full of chemicals which was injected into the explosive

Device: The packet of PETN explosive powder which failed to detonate properly

* Images show bomber hid explosives in his underpants
* Al Qaeda say they were behind Christmas Day plot
* Passengers suggest Abdulmutallab had accomplices
* Obama: We won't rest until we have all those involved

These are the first pictures of the explosives sewn into the underwear of the Christmas Day plane bomber.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smuggled a packet of explosives on board the Amsterdam-Detroit plane by sewing it into the crotch of his underpants.

As the transatlantic flight neared its close, the 23-year-old attempted to detonate the bomb by injecting the packet with a chemical-filled syringe.

But it failed to work properly, setting on fire and leaving the young Nigerian with severe burns to his groin after he was brought under control by passengers and police.


The pictures show the singed underwear and the packet of explosive powder, as well as the plastic syringe which Abdulmutallab used to inject the chemicals.

They were released by ABC News after Al Qaeda announced last night that it was behind the jet bomb plot.

The terrorist group said it provided Abdulmutallab with a 'technically advanced device' but it had failed to detonate because of a fault.

A statement posted on Islamist websites said the attack was a response to U.S. attacks on the group in Yemen. It showed a picture of Abdulmutallab referring to him as Umar Farouk al-Nigiri - the Nigerian.

'He managed to penetrate all devices and modern advanced technology and security checkpoints in international airports bravely without fear of death,' said the statement.

'Relying on God and defying the large myth of American and international intelligence, and exposing how fragile they are, bringing their nose to the ground, and making them regret all they spent on security technology.'
Abdulmutallab was overpowered by passengers and then arrested aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit.

He has told the FBI he was tutored in terrorism while living for a month with a senior Al Qaeda commander in Yemen.

He is said to have warned that other young men are being trained there to bring down U.S. airlines, boasting: 'There are plenty more like me.'
*

In an extraordinary twist which will increase concerns over security failures, an American lawyer claimed he had watched at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as Abdulmutallab was assisted by a 'second man' as he tried to board without a passport.

Kurt Haskell, who was standing in line with his wife Lori on Christmas morning, said the Nigerian was with a man aged about 50 of Indian appearance in an expensive suit talking with the ticket agent.

Mr Haskell said the second man claimed Abdulmutallab was from Sudan and had no passport.
The ticket agent referred the men to her manager down the hall, and Mr Haskell did not see Abdulmutallab again until after the failed bombing.

If true, the claim would represent an astonishing breach of security at a major international airport and a flagrant disregard of both U.S. government and airline policy.

U.S. authorities did not comment on Mr Haskell's claims but Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano admitted on U.S. television that the aviation security system had 'failed'.

A Dutch military police spokesman said: 'At this moment we have no information on whether there was another guy. We are checking all clues and information we get.'
He said the Dutch counter-terrorism agency was reviewing CCTV recordings to check out the accomplice story.

Further suggestions of an accomplice came from another passenger, Patricia Keepman, who says she saw a man calmly filming the whole flight - including the attempted detonation.

Mrs Keepman was travelling back from Ethiopia with her husband, daughter and two newly adopted children, and was sitting around 20 rows back from Abdulmutallab.

The other man 'sat up and videotaped the entire thing, very calmly. We do know that the FBI is looking for him intensely,' she said.

She described the sound when Abdulmutallab tried to detonate his bomb as like an 'electrical pop'.

'Everybody looked above their seats, kind of like startled, panicked. Shortly thereafter, we heard the screams,' she said.

The group were too far back to see what was happening and just clutched each other for comfort.

Mrs Keepman said: 'The holding hands gave us a real sense of peace. If it happened that point, it would happen. We were ready. We just weren't ready for it to happen for the kids.

'We just kept thinking "God didn't bring us this far, to go through all of this, to shorten these kids' lives" and sure enough, He didn't.'

President Barack Obama said last night: 'A full investigation has been launched into this attempted act of terrorism. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists.

'Those who would slaughter innocent men, women and children must know that the United States will do more than just strengthen our defences,' said Mr Obama.

'We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere.'
In London, Home Secretary Alan Johnson revealed that Abdulmutallab had been placed on a UK watch list this year after authorities refused to renew his student visa.

He said police and MI5 were examining whether the deeply-religious son of one of Africa's richest men had been radicalised during three years studying engineering at University College London.

He also hinted at the involvement of others, adding: 'We don't know yet whether it was a single-handed plot or there were other people behind it - I suspect it's the latter rather than the former.'

Mr Johnson did not elaborate on his belief that Abdulmutallab had received help, but Scotland Yard detectives and MI5 have both been focused on the importance of his London links.

The 23-year-old appears to have been lonely and torn between extreme Islamic views and liberalism, according to internet posts he wrote a few years ago.

He posted hundreds of messages on Facebook and Islamic chatrooms between 2005 and 2007 asking for advice about loneliness, marriage and the Muslim faith, according to the Washington Post.

One written in January 2005 said: 'I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do. And then I think this loneliness leads me to other problems.'

Writing under the name Farouk1986, he talked of Arabic language studies in Yemen, plans to apply to U.S. universities and his 'dilemma between liberalism and extremism' as a devout Muslim.

'How should one put the balance right? I strive to life my daily live (sic) according to the quran and sunnah to the best of my ability. I do almost everything, sports, TV, books,' he said.

Abdulmutallab is reported to have 'crossed the radar' of MI5 while in the UK officers are seeking to establish whether he had contact with extremists.

Throughout the weekend search teams combed the £2million flat in a mansion block in Mansfield Road, close to Oxford Street, where he lived in the capital with some of his 15 brothers and sisters.

Confirming that Abdulmutallab had been refused a new visa in May and placed on a watch list, Mr Johnson said it would have prevented him entering the UK but allowed him to pass through a British airport to another country. The U.S. authorities should have been informed of this, he added.

Abdulmutallab was also on a U.S. watch list, although it allowed him to travel on planes flying into the country.

HE LED UNIVERSITY'S EXTREME ISLAMIC SOCIETY

The syringe bomber was president of a notoriously extreme student Islamic Society while studying in Britain, it emerged last night.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is believed to have been radicalised during his time at University College London, swapped western clothing for a skull cap and Islamic robes during his final year of an engineering degree in 2007/8.

UCL Provost Malcolm Grant confirmed that Abdulmutallab was president of the university's Islamic Student Society in 2006/07 and had graduated in mechanical engineering.

He said today: 'The account I have had from his tutors is that he was a well-mannered student, quietly spoken, polite and able, and gave no indication at all of what his inclinations might be.

'We are very shocked by what has happened and we will be reflecting on it very carefully as further details emerge and reviewing all aspects of it, but - as presently advised - there was nothing about his conduct which gave his tutors any cause for concern.'

He added: 'We admit our students wholly on merit. We make no reference to their political, racial or religious background or beliefs. That is fundamental to what we do. So we can't vet students in any effective way at that point.'

A source at UCL said: 'When he started you wouldn't even have known that he was a Muslim, but then in the third year he started wearing the white flowing Islamic robes and skull cap.

'We were all very shocked when we saw that he was involved in trying to blow up a plane - it seemed completely out of character.'

The organisation last month provoked fury by inviting the extremist cleric Abu Usamah to address students.

The preacher has previously claimed that homosexuals and opponents of Islam should be killed, that women are mentally deficient and that Britain should become an Islamic state. The university called off the event after protests by human rights campaigners.

Prof. Grant said the invitation was swiftly withdrawn when it became apparent how dangerous the individual was.

He said: 'We are committed - as all proper universities must be - to securing academic freedom and freedom of speech on campus. We are obliged under Government legislation to secure freedom of speech on campus and that includes for visiting speakers.

'We walk a very narrow line between allowing that to occur but on the other hand ensuring that nothing occurs which would result in the incitement of racial hatred.'

MENACE OF THE Mushing BOGUS COLLEGES

The spread of a bogus college industry catering for fake students from abroad has long been a concern to those worried about illegal immigration.

But the past few months have proved that the network of well over 2,000 colleges suspected to have been immigration fronts has also provided cover for terrorists.

The exploitation of the student immigration racket by terror groups was confirmed in April in the arrest of 12 suspects in a botched police operation. Ten of them were in England-on student visas.

The fiasco of the arrests - made in a panic after Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick sauntered into a Downing Street with his documents on show to photographers - was followed by a failure to charge any of the suspects.

But an independent inquiry into the affair by Lord Carlile confirmed that intelligence evidence linked the group to a 'very significant international plot'.

He condemned the bogus colleges with 'non- existent courses' and called for 'a higher level of vigilance'.

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