Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab Livens Up Slow News Day With Detroit Firecracker

HUGE news that Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, a passenger aboard Delta Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit, tried to blow up the plane.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?! Yep. Him and all. And Abdul Mudallad? Did you say Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab? Yes. Was that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab? Yep.

As Sky News says:

Passenger ‘Tries To Blow Up’ US Plane

A bomb? The Daily Telegraph says:

Passenger sets off fireworks on Airbus

Fireworks? Sky says:

US source say the 23-year-old Nigerian, an engineering student at a university in London, ignited a “powdery substance”, a mix of powder and liquid.

A wet firework? A big rocket Kaboom! Reuters calls it:

Obama monitoring Delta flight firecracker situation

The Sun agrees on firecrackers:

The man set off a firecracker on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, an Airbus 330 carrying 278 passengers.

Canada.com has more facts:

A Montreal woman said she feared for her life after hearing several bangs that sounded like gun shots, and seeing a man on fire while her plane was landing in Detroit Friday.

So no bomb?

“The plane was about to land, and the landing gear wasn’t down yet, that’s when this guy set himself on fire,” she said. “I thought we were all gone. Thank God, somehow the plane landed.”

And what about the Detroit connection? Why would anyone bother to attack Detroit, the US failed city?

* Terrorist Attack Detroit

The facts are coming in thick and fast. What do we know about the man. Sky News says he’s on a list.

The man:

He suffered third-degree burns. He is said to have claimed links to al Qaeda

Obama:

Representative Peter King, who sits on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, calls the device “fairly sophisticated”. President Obama, experiencing global warming first hand in Hawaii, is “actively monitoring” the situation. He “instructed that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel,” says White House spokesman Bill Burton.

Man sets off firecracker on airplane to America’s lost city and Obama is watching the news on the telly. More to follow…



Anorak

Posted: 26th, December 2009 | In: Reviews Comments (6) | TrackBack | Permalink