US prepares Yemen air strikes

AP

ATTEMPTED BOMBING: Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the alleged attempted attack by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on a US airliner.

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The US and Yemen are considering air strikes against al Qaeda bases in Yemen, in retaliation for the attempted downing of a US airliner on Christmas Day.

The strikes are shaping up as President Barack Obama's first serious national security test.

Several US networks reported that US intelligence agencies were preparing a list of possible targets after al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an offshoot of Osama bin Laden's organisation, claimed responsibility for training and equipping Nigerian man Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Yemen, with the help of the US, launched two air strikes before Christmas that are said to have killed about 30 al Qaeda fighters. There are thought to be about 200 in the country.

CNN television cited two senior US officials who said that ''the effort is to see whether targets can be specifically linked to the airliner incident and its planning''.

''Yemen has not yet consented to the type of special forces helicopter-borne air assault that would put US commandos on the ground with the mission of capturing suspects for further interrogation. That is also a capability the US would like the Yemenis to eventually develop,'' the report added, citing another official.

At home, Mr Obama is dealing with what appears to be a ''potentially catastrophic'' failure of US intelligence. CNN reported that a CIA officer had at least one interview with the father of the Christmas Day bomber at the US embassy in Nigeria in November and filed a report to CIA headquarters.

Separately, CBS News reported that the CIA had received reports in August of a person of interest referred to in the agency as ''the Nigerian'' who was suspected of meeting ''terrorist elements'' in Yemen.

Yet the US spy agency and other intelligence organisations failed to join the dots.

Umaru Abdulmutallab, a prominent Nigerian banker, went to the US embassy at least twice, phoned several times and wrote that his son had disappeared and may have travelled to Yemen.

A clearly angry Mr Obama interrupted his holiday again to confirm that Dr Abdulmutallab's information was passed to ''a component of our intelligence community'' but said it was not effectively distributed so as to include the suspect on a no-fly list.

There were ''other deficiencies'' as well, he said, indicating he had become aware of the intelligence failures only in the past 24 hours. Mr Obama will receive a preliminary report on the matter today.

Questions are being asked about why the State Department, which also knew about Dr Abdulmutallab's fears, did not revoke his son's multiple-entry tourist visa to the US. A spokesman for the department said revoking a visa was a multi-agency decision.

The attempted bombing has raised questions in Congress about Mr Obama's plans to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Nearly half the remaining detainees there are from Yemen.

A spokesman for the Yemeni embassy in Washington, Mohammed Albasha, confirmed that Abdulmutallab was in his country between July and December. He said he had attended a language school that was not under suspicion, but had attended a mosque that was under surveillance.

Mr Albasha cast doubt on claims that the Christmas Day attack was in retaliation for air strikes against alQaeda camps on December 17 and 24, pointing out that Abdulmutallab had bought his ticket on December 16.

- with AP

- © Fairfax NZ News