Al Qaeda group said to eye thermoses to attack U.S.

Thu, Jan 13 2011
By Jeremy Pelofsky

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An alert by U.S. authorities last month about carrying insulated drink containers on planes stemmed from intelligence that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operatives may try to hide explosives in them, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
The Transportation Security Administration issued an alert just before Christmas that thermoses and similar insulated beverage containers could be subject to extra security if carried through U.S. airport checkpoints.
"This plot was that they would use TATP around the cylinder of a thermos (and) put it either on a passenger or cargo plane," said TSA Administrator John Pistole, referring to the explosive Triacetone Triperoxide used in other plots.
The intelligence about the new tactic by the al Qaeda affiliate was received on December 23 but did not describe how the explosives would be detonated, Pistole said at an event sponsored by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security.
U.S. security officials have been scrambling to close holes in transportation security after the al Qaeda affiliate tried to send bombs aboard U.S. commercial and cargo airliners.
TATP was one of the explosives used in the plot by a Nigerian man who tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on an overseas flight on Christmas Day in 2009 and in bombs sent via cargo carriers in toner cartridges in October.
Obama administration officials have repeatedly warned that the group would continue to try to attack the United States.
Pistole said the same individual that made the underwear bomb also made bombs hidden inside toner cartridges that were sent via United Parcel Service and FedEx. Both plots were foiled and AQAP claimed responsibility for them.
The TSA chief described the threat posed by the group as "persistent and evolving."
(Editing by Philip Barbara)