Nigerian man indicted in plot to blow up plane

A grand jury indicted a Nigerian man on Wednesday on charges accusing him of attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day by trying to use a weapon of mass destruction.

The federal grand jury also charged Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab with attempted murder, possession of a firearm and other counts.

Authorities say Abdulmutallab, 23, was traveling to Detroit from Amsterdam when he tried to blow up the plane carrying nearly 300 people by injecting chemicals into a package of pentrite explosive concealed in his underwear.

The failed attack caused popping sounds and flames that passengers and crew rushed to extinguish.

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Since then, airlines and the Transportation Security Administration have boosted security in airports in the U.S. and around the world.

There is no specific mention of terrorism in the seven-page indictment, but President Barack Obama considers the incident a failed strike against the United States by an affiliate of al-Qaida.

Abdulmutallab has told U.S. investigators he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. His father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen, but that threat was never fully digested by the U.S. security apparatus.

He is currently being held at a federal prison in Milan, Mich. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday with his lawyer, Miriam Siefer.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)