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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Plane 'plotter' met Yemen cleric | Plane 'plotter' met Yemen cleric |
| (41 minutes later) | |
| A Nigerian accused of plotting to bomb a plane over Detroit met radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, senior Yemeni officials have confirmed. | A Nigerian accused of plotting to bomb a plane over Detroit met radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen, senior Yemeni officials have confirmed. |
| Deputy Prime Minister Rashad al-Alimi said the two men had met when the alleged bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, visited Shabwa province. | |
| He also said the explosives used in the plane plot came from Nigeria not Yemen. | |
| Last week US security official John Brennan said there were "indications" of direct contact between the two men. | Last week US security official John Brennan said there were "indications" of direct contact between the two men. |
| Mr Abdulmutallab was indicted by a US grand jury on six counts on Wednesday. | Mr Abdulmutallab was indicted by a US grand jury on six counts on Wednesday. |
| Charges against him include attempted murder of the 290 people aboard the plane and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. | Charges against him include attempted murder of the 290 people aboard the plane and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. |
| Mr Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, but the plane landed safely after crew and passengers overpowered him. | Mr Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to detonate a bomb on Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, but the plane landed safely after crew and passengers overpowered him. |
| In a separate development, Mr Alimi said that five Germans including three children and a Briton kidnapped in Yemen six months ago are still alive. | |
| He said northern Shia rebels were co-operating with al-Qaeda over the kidnap. | |
| 'Not just a cleric' | |
| Mr Awlaki, a radical American Muslim cleric of Yemeni descent, has been linked to other attacks, including that carried out by a US army major who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood army base in Texas in November. | Mr Awlaki, a radical American Muslim cleric of Yemeni descent, has been linked to other attacks, including that carried out by a US army major who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood army base in Texas in November. |
| Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been in custody since 25 December | |
| "Mr Awlaki is a problem. He's clearly a part of al-Qaeda in [the] Arabian Peninsula," Mr Brennan, who is UN deputy national security adviser, told CNN last week. | |
| "He's not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism." | "He's not just a cleric. He is in fact trying to instigate terrorism." |
| Some reports say the cleric was killed just before the Christmas attack, in an airstrike on a suspected al-Qaeda base. | Some reports say the cleric was killed just before the Christmas attack, in an airstrike on a suspected al-Qaeda base. |
| However, friends and relatives say he was not harmed in the raid. | However, friends and relatives say he was not harmed in the raid. |
| 'A certain shock' | |
| Confirmation of the meeting between the two men comes as the White House plans to publish a declassified account of the Christmas Day plot. | |
| In an interview for USA Today newspaper, National Security Adviser Gen James Jones said people would feel "a certain shock" that clues about Mr Abdulmutallab's role were not acted on. | |
| President Barack Obama "is legitimately and correctly alarmed that things that were available, bits of information that were available, patterns of behaviour that were available, were not acted on", he said. | |
| Mr Obama is expected to address the nation about the incident later in the day and unveil new steps aimed at avoiding further terrorist attacks. |