Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab supported by Saudi Arabia al Qaida

The statement that was posted on the Internet; al-Qaida in the Saudi Arabia said the 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab coordinated with members of the group, an alliance of militants based in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (born December 22, 1986) is a Nigerian man who allegedly tried to detonate an explosive or incendiary device on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on December 25, 2009 which was en route from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan

Abdulmutallab was born in Lagos. He is the son of former First Bank PLC chairman Alhaji Umaru Mutallab. The family comes from the town of Katsina. Abdulmutallab attended the British School of Lomé, in Lomé, the capital of Togo. He was described as a ‘dream student’ by his history teacher Michael Rimmer. The school is popular with wealthy Nigerians, where he obtained his International Baccalaureate, then proceeded to University College London, where he was enrolled in the department of mechanical engineering from September 2005 to June 2008. While in London, he reportedly lived in a ₤4 million apartment in Mansfield Street, in the city’s West End.

The Telegraph interviewed Mike Rimmer, his high school teacher, who reported that he had defended the Taliban during classroom discussions of their social policies, and their destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan. Rimmer described his family as “wonderful”, said he had been fond of Abdulmutallab, thought he had been playing “devil’s advocate”, thought he had really understood Abdulmutallab, but concluded he had not, after all.
Before expressing extremist view, Abdulmutallab is known to have supported Arsenal Football Club, and loved cheese burgers.

From Nigeria, Abdulmutallab travelled to Amsterdam, where he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 en route to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day.
Passengers and crew aboard the plane said Abdulmutallab spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom as it approached Detroit and then covered himself with a blanket after returning to his seat, the Justice Department said. They then heard popping noises and smelled a foul odor and some saw Abdulmutallab’s trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire, it said. When asked by a flight attendant what he had in his pocket, he replied “explosive device.” The device consisted of a six-inch (15-cm) packet of powder and a syringe containing a liquid, which were sewn into the suspect’s underwear, according to media reports.

Passengers reported smelling smoke and saw that something in his lap was on fire. Fellow passenger Jasper Schuringa, a Dutch film director, jumped on Abdulmutallab, and he and other passengers subdued him as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to douse the flames.  At this point, Abdulmutallab was taken toward the front of the airplane cabin, and was seen to have lost his pants due to the fire, and had burns on his legs.  After being taken into custody, Abdulmutallab told authorities he had been directed by al-Qaeda. He said that the device was obtained in Yemen, along with instructions from al-Qaeda on how to use it. Authorities have not yet confirmed his statements.

The attack came near the eighth anniversary of the attempt by Richard Reid to blow up a plane using explosives hidden in his shoe. The Taliban also released a video of captured U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl on the day of the attack.