Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian charged for trying to destroy a US Airliner, carried enough explosive to blow up a hole in the aircraft, investigators have said, as al Qaeda blamed a technical glitch for the failed attempt.
The explosive identified as PETN -- pentaerythritol tetranitrate -- was concealed in the underwear of the suspect, which if exploded would have blown a hole in the airplane, The Washington Post said.
Referring to federal sources, CNN also said the amount of explosive was sufficient to blow a hole in the aircraft.
The amount used was 80 grams of PETN, almost twice as much of the same explosive used by the convicted shoe bomber Richard C Reid, the Post said, adding investigation about the explosive were still on.
Fox News had earlier reported that Abdulmutallab’s seat 19A was just above the fuel tank of the Northwest Airlines flight 253 and if there had been an explosion, it could have been accelerated by the fuel, damaging the wing and puncturing the skin, and bringing down the plane.
Claiming responsibility for the attempt, al Qaeda said it tested “new kind of explosives” in the attack, and hailed the fact that the explosives passed through security.
“There was a technical problem that resulted in a non-complete explosion,” the message posted on a radical Islamic website said, according to Maryland-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors radical Islamist forums and websites.
