Yemen details 'jet bomber' moves, say he was over there studying Arabic

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is seen in this screen grab taken from an Islamist website December 28, 2009.

You wonder why Yemen doesn't shut these radical preachers down ~ is it because of 'respect' for Islam.

The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a jet over the US on Christmas Day was living in Yemen until earlier this month, Yemeni officials have said.

The foreign ministry said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was in Yemen from August until the beginning of December, the official Saba news agency reported.

He had a visa to study Arabic at an institute in the capital Sanaa. [..]

A web posting by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which included a photograph purportedly of Mr Abdulmutallab in front of its banner, said it had been a response to US attacks against its operatives. [..]

Contacts

On Tuesday, an official at the Yemeni foreign ministry told Saba that the Migration and Passport Authority had confirmed that Mr Abdulmutallab arrived in Yemen at the beginning of August to study Arabic and left for Ethiopia four months later.

"The entry visa was granted to the Nigerian after authorities found he could get visas from other friendly countries and saw his US visa was still valid," he said.


The security services were now trying to find out who Mr Abdulmutallab had contact with while in Yemen and would co-operate with the US, he added.

"Yemen condemns such terrorist acts targeting the innocent and it reiterates its full support for the fight against terror anywhere."

US officials are said to be concerned there may be more al-Qaeda-trained young men in the country planning to bring down US planes.

Online posts

ABC News earlier reported that among the group who planned the alleged attack were two men who were released by the US from its Guantanamo Bay detention centre in November 2007.

UMAR FAROUK ABDULMUTALLAB

•Son of a wealthy Nigerian businessman
•Attended a British school in Togo
•Studied mechanical engineering at University College London
•Spent time in Dubai, Yemen and Egypt
Mohammed Attik al-Harbi, also known as Mohammed al-Awfi, and Said Ali Shari were sent home to Saudi Arabia, where they were admitted to an "art therapy rehabilitation program" and later set free, US and Saudi officials said.

Both men appeared in a video in January along with the man described as the leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasser Abdul Karim al-Wahishi.

She also demanded to know why officials had not revoked Mr Abdulmutallab's two-year multiple-entry visa - which was issued in June 2008 - after his father voiced fears to the US embassy in Abuja that his son was becoming radicalised.

Mr Abdulmutallab's name was added to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) watch list, but was not put on a no-fly list.

Online postings apparently written by the young Nigerian between 2005 and 2007 meanwhile suggest the young Nigerian was "lonely" and had "never found a true Muslim friend", according to the Washington Post.

"I have no one to speak too," read one entry by a user named farouk1986 in January 2005, when Mr Abdulmutallab was attending boarding school in Togo.

"No one to consult, no one to support me and I feel depressed and lonely. I do not know what to do. And then I think this loneliness leads me to other problems."

BBC