• Photo
ap airline plot security

Airport security procedures don’t need to be toughened despite the discovery of a new al-Qaida airline bomb plot using more sophisticated technology than an earlier attempt, congressional and security officials said Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

  • More National News
Police release photos from Tucson shooting rampage
Photos released from Tucson shooting

Authorities on Tuesday released nearly 600 photos that …

IRS chief knew tea party groups targeted in 2012
IRS chief knew of 2012 targeting

The former head of the Internal Revenue Service said he first …

More tornadoes from global warming? Nobody knows
More tornadoes from global warming?

A deadly tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City on Monday. A quick …

Photos: OKC suburbs ravaged by tornado
Photos: OKC suburbs ravaged by tornado

A monstrous tornado as much as a mile wide roared through the …

Photos: Tornadoes hammer South, Midwest
Photos: Tornadoes hammer South, Midwest

Several tornadoes struck parts of the nation's midsection, …

Advertisement

Officials: Bomber was CIA informant

Officials say the informant is safely out of Yemen

Updated: Tuesday, 08 May 2012, 6:20 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 08 May 2012, 5:34 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. and Yemeni officials say the supposed would-be bomber at the heart of an al-Qaida airliner plot was actually an informant working for the CIA.

The revelation, first reported by The Los Angeles Times, shows how the CIA was able to get its hands on a sophisticated underwear bomb well before an attack was set in motion.

Officials say the informant was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb. He then turned the device over to authorities. Officials say the informant is safely out of Yemen.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence matter.

------

Associated Press writer Ahmed Al-Haj contributed to this report from Sanaa, Yemen.

 

Advertisement
Advertisement