A Nigerian man who said he was an agent for al Qaeda tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane Friday as it was preparing to land in Detroit, but travelers who smelled smoke and heard what sounded like firecrackers rushed to subdue him, the passengers and federal officials said.
Flight 253 with 278 passengers aboard was about 20 minutes from the airport when passengers heard popping noises, witnesses said. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man. Shortly afterward, the suspect was taken to the front of the plane with his pants cut off and his legs burned, a passenger said.
One U.S. intelligence official said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it.
"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a traveler from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."
Smith said a passenger sitting opposite the man climbed over people, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. Syed Jafri, another passenger, said he saw a glow and smelled smoke. Then, he said, "a young man behind me jumped on him."
"Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic," said Jafri. Smith said the heroic passenger appeared to have been burned.
The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel. It did not specify what those were.
The incident was reminiscent of Richard Reid, who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes, but was subdued by other passengers. Reid is serving a life sentence.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect in Friday's attempted attack as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al Qaeda to detonate the plane over U.S. soil. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
A senior U.S. counterterror official says Mudallad was planning to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 carrying 278 passengers, but the explosive device failed. Mudallad reportedly ignited powder attached to his leg and was severely burned in the incident, CBS News reports. Other news outlets reported that the explosive may have contained a liquid, not powder.A U.S. security official says the explosive device was a mixture of powder and liquid.
This attack was thwarted, but the risk of detonation of explosives on planes remains real. Here's a video illustration of what happens when a small amount of plastic explosives detonates in a pressurized aircraft.
America dodged a bullet here, but the bullets will keep coming.
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