Grand Jury: Would-Be Christmas Underwear Bomber Didn’t Act Alone

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to ignite explosives concealed in his underwear on board a Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit last year, was indicted on a terrorism charge Wednesday. The Associated Press reports:

A superseding indictment returned by a grand jury accuses Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of conspiring with others to kill 281 passengers and 11 crew members aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253. U.S investigators believe the 24-year-old received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen.

As the flight was close to landing at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in suburban Romulus, Abdulmutallab claimed to have an upset stomach and placed a blanket over himself, according to the indictment. He then detonated the bomb, which resulted in a fire, and he was subdued by passengers and flight crew, the indictment said.

The new charges against Abdulmutallab are conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and an additional count of possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence. They each carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

“The purpose of the superseding indictment is to frame the charges for trial,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.

Abdulmutallab is representing himself in the case. Standby counsel Anthony Chambers said Wednesday he had received the superseding indictment, but had no comment on it.

The Nigerian is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal court in Detroit.

In addition,the grand jury’s decision Wednesday suggests Abdulmutallab was not working alone when he tried to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in 2009. The new charge is spelled out in Count One of the court documents released Wednesday afternoon:

“From in or about the year 2009, continuing up to and including December 25,2009, defendant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and others whose names are known and unknown to the grand jury, conspired to engage in an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, involving conduct which was in violation of the laws of the United States.

The unlawful conduct included the attempt to kill the other persons on board Flight 253, and created a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to those other persons by attempting to destroy or damage a conveyance, that is, the aircraft constituting Flight 253.”

The new charge of conspiracy to commit and act of terrorism carries a maximum life sentence.

According to recent news reports, enemy combatants captured in Iraq have confessed that al-Qaeda is planning to carry out similar suicide attacks in the U.S. and across Europe during the 2010 holiday season.