NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

By Masterweb News Desk

A 23-year-old Nigerian national, Abdul Mudallad (aka Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab)was subdued and prevented from blowing up a U.S. airliner by fellow passengers and the flight crew. Mudallad left Lagos, Nigeria on Christmas eve to the Netherlands where he on Friday in Amsterdam boarded Northwest Airlines flight 253 bound for Detroit, Michigan, U.S. He was traveling one way, without a return ticket. The flight had 278 passengers aboard.

Twenty minutes prior to landing in Detroit, the cabin erupted with firecracker sounding explosion followed with smoke smell. A passenger sitting across the direction of the mini explosion, climbed over others to confront the suspect while other passengers and flight crew rushed to assist him. The suspect was subdued and taken to the front of the plane with his hands, pants and legs burnt from the explosion. He was taken to the burn unit of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, 20 miles from the airport. ( Continues below..... )

Photo Above: Northwest Airlines Flight 253 sitting on the runway after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Amsterdam on Dec. 25, 2009.

Peter Smith, a traveler from the Netherlands told reporters: "It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase. First there was a pop, and then smoke" Another passenger, Syed Jafri, said he saw a glow and smelled smoke, then a young man behind him jumping on the suspect.

A U.S. intelligence official said the explosive device was a mixture of powder and liquid that failed when the suspect tried to detonate it. Mudallad, according to U.S. law-enforcement officials said he received instructions and training from al Qaeda operatives in Yemen ahead of his abortive plot. He claimed to have been directed by al Qaeda to explode a small device in flight over U.S. soil.

U.S. President Obama, vacationing with his family in Hawaii, was notified of the incident between 9:00 and 9:30 Hawaii time by the president's military aide. He held several high-level conference calls with U.S. national security advisers, which according to reports would result to increased security at U.S. airports. White House spokesman, Bill Burton, said in a statement that Obama "instructed that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel in the country." Such increase according to Burton would translate to additional delays to travelers. The White House has called the incident an act of terrorism.