Bomb timed to explode over U.S.' East Coast

WASHINGTON — One of the two package bombs recovered in a failed terrorist plot that originated in Yemen was timed to explode over the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, British authorities said Wednesday.

A forensic examination of the device wired inside a printer cartridge concluded that it would have detonated at 5:30 a.m. ET, Oct. 29, according to a statement by London's Metropolitan Police.

"If the device had not been removed from the aircraft, the activation could have occurred over the eastern seaboard of the U.S.," the statement said.

The device, laden with the highly explosive substance PETN, was located and disarmed at Britain's East Midlands Airport on board a United Parcel Service jet after Saudi intelligence officials tipped U.S. counterterrorism authorities to the plot.

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The plot also involved a second, similar device that was recovered in Dubai. Both packages were addressed to Jewish worship centers in Chicago.

John Brennan, the White House's homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, has said intelligence officials believe the devices were made by the same terror operative — Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri — who devised the failed explosive hidden in the underwear of accused Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

The "sophistication" of the package bombs points directly to al-Qaeda's faction in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), where the group operates a planning base in Yemen, Brennan has said.

"We greatly appreciate the highly professional nature of the U.K. investigation and the spirit of partnership with which U.K. authorities have pursued this," White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Wednesday.

"The findings ... underscore the serious nature of the attempted AQAP attack and the challenge we all face in trying to prevent or disrupt such attacks," Shapiro said.

Britain's disclosure about the inquiry Wednesday comes after the U.S., Britain and Germany imposed prohibitions and tighter restrictions on air cargo and passenger traffic originating in Yemen and neighboring Somalia.

Among the changes announced Monday by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was a ban on toner and ink printer cartridges over 16 ounces on domestic and international passenger flights bound for the U.S.

The cartridge ban also applies to some inbound international air cargo shipments.

The secretary also indefinitely extended the prohibition on all air cargo originating in Yemen and Somalia.

"International cooperation was key to diffusing this bomb, but intelligence alone is not sufficient to ensure that the next al-Qaeda attack on our nation will be neutralized in the nick of time," said U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who has called for legislation requiring the screening of all goods carried on cargo planes.

"The fact remains that aviation is still at the top of al-Qaeda's terrorist target list. We have no guarantee that our allies will get advance warning of the next attack or pass it on to us in a timely fashion. There is no snooze button for an alarm clock strapped to a bomb."

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