The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up an aircraft on Christmas Day has provided "useful, actionable" intelligence to US authorities after the FBI flew his relatives to the United States to urge him to co-operate, US officials said today.
Top US intelligence officials, testifying on Capitol Hill about the attempted bombing and other security threats, said al-Qaeda and its allies were "certain" to try to attack US territory again within the next six months.
The bombing suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (23) started talking again after FBI agents brought family members from Nigeria to help convince him to provide information on how the botched December 25th bomb plot was arranged and whether further attacks were in the works, a senior US official said,
He is alleged to have mounted the attack with help from a Yemen-based al Qaeda branch.
"I'm confident he's going to continue to co-operate," the official said, although he declined to say whether Abdulmutallab had been offered a plea deal or leniency in exchange for answering questions again.
The Obama administration has been criticised by Republicans and Democrats because Abdulmutallab was interviewed by FBI agents for about an hour before he stopped cooperating and he was then read his so-called Miranda rights, providing him full US constitutional legal protections.
They questioned if that prevented getting intelligence.
Prosecutors charged Abdulmutallab with trying to blow up the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit with a bomb sewn into his underwear, drawing further criticism from some lawmakers who said he should face a special military tribunal instead and questioning by intelligence operatives instead of the FBI.
Reuters