Christmas bombing plot suspect is indicted

A grand jury indicted a Nigerian man on Wednesday on charges accusing him of attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day by trying to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The federal grand jury also charged Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
with attempted murder, possession of a firearm and other counts.

Authorities say Abdulmutallab, 23, was traveling to Detroit from
Amsterdam when he tried to blow up the plane carrying nearly 300
people by injecting chemicals into a package of pentrite explosive
concealed in his underwear.

The failed attack caused popping sounds and flames that
passengers and crew rushed to extinguish.

Since then, airlines and the Transportation Security Administration have boosted security in airports in the U.S. and around the world.
    There is no specific mention of terrorism in the seven-page
indictment, but President Barack Obama considers the incident a
failed strike against the United States by an affiliate of
al-Qaida.
    Abdulmutallab has told U.S. investigators he received training
and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. His father
warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into
extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen, but that threat was
never fully digested by the U.S. security apparatus.
    He is currently being held at a federal prison in Milan, Mich. A
message seeking comment was left Wednesday with his lawyer, Miriam Siefer.