Abdulmutallab Indicted in Plot to Attack U.S.-Bound Airliner

The man accused of trying to detonate an explosive on a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday in Michigan on charges including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

The seven-page indictment handed down for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian man, also charges him with attempted murder, possession of a firearm and other counts in connection with a failed attempt to blow up Northwest Flight 253.

“Abdulmutallab attempted to murder 289 individuals, that is, the remaining passengers and crew of Flight 253, by detonating the bomb,” the indictment states. Read it here.

Terrorism is not specifically mentioned in the indictment, but President Obama considers the incident a failed strike against the United States by an al-Qaida affiliate, the [Associated Press noted](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122289232). Abdulmutallab, who is being held in a federal prison in Milan, Mich., faces a total of six federal counts related to his alleged attempt to blow up the flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. “The charges that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab faces could imprison him for life,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a news release. “This investigation is fast-paced, global and ongoing, and it has already yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads. Anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be brought to justice using every tool — military or judicial — available to our government.” The bomb attempt spawned a new debate in Washington about the effectiveness of the U.S. homeland security and intelligence capabilities and President Obama has ordered a review of those systems. President Obama [said Tuesday](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/jan-june10/obama1_01-05.html) that “the U.S. government had sufficient information to have uncovered this plot and potentially disrupt the Christmas Day attack, but our intelligence community failed to connect those dots, which would have placed the suspect on the no-fly list.”