FBI experts are picking apart a sophisticated new al Qaeda bomb to discover if it was capable of getting past airport security and blowing up a plane.
The unexploded bomb represents an intelligence prize, the result of a covert CIA operation in Yemen.
The device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. However, it was not clear whether new body scanners would have detected it.
The device is an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time al Qaeda developed a more refined detonation system.
It's not clear who built the bomb, but because of its sophistication and its similarity to the Christmas Day bomb, authorities suspected it was the work of master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri.
Al Asiri constructed the first underwear bomb and two others that al Qaeda built into printer cartridges and sent to the US on cargo planes in 2010. Both of those bombs used a powerful industrial explosive. Both were nearly successful.
The new underwear bomb operation is a reminder of al Qaeda's ambitions, despite the death of Osama bin Laden and other senior leaders. Because of instability in the Yemeni government, the terrorist group's branch there has gained territory and strength.
On Monday, al Qaeda militants staged a surprise attack on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 22 soldiers and capturing at least 25.
The militants managed to reach the base both from the sea and by land, gunning down troops and making away with weapons and other military hardware after the attack.
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