Authorities in Yemen said late Saturday said they had detained the mother of a student already being held in connection with the two powerful mail bombs sent on cargo planes bound for the United States.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh had said the daughter was arrested with the help of an intelligence tip from the U.S. Officials have identified her as 22-year-old Hanan al Samawi, a student at Sana'a University who lives in one of the Yemeni capital's poorer neighborhoods.
Lawyers representing Samawi said officials were able to trace the package to her through information on an invoice for the packages, but say she may have been tricked.
The air freight packages were found Friday at airports in Britain and the United Arab Emirates. They were addressed to Jewish places of worship in Chicago in the midwestern U.S. state of Illinois.
U.S. officials say the plot has the "hallmarks of al-Qaida."
They also warned Saturday of a possible connection to language schools operating in Yemen.
The officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security named the Yemen American Institute for Languages-Computer Management and the American Center for Training and Development.
U.S. officials also believe they know who built the bombs, which they describe as highly sophisticated.
They said the bombs were likely made by Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, the chief bombmaker for the terror group's Yemen branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
Asiri is also suspected of making the underwear bomb used by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab in his failed attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner. Authorities say the mail bombs found Friday contained the same explosive substance (PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate) used in the attack last December.
Asiri has also been linked to a bomb that almost killed a top Saudi counterterrorism official.
U.S. officials said the explosive material for the bombs found last Friday was hidden in ink cartridges for computer printers, and that at least one was connected to a mobile phone chip.
British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters Saturday the device was likely intended to detonate aboard the cargo plane.
Meanwhile, officials in Yemen said they had seized more than 20 other packages that appeared suspicious.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with Mr. Cameron and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah about the plot Saturday.
White House officials said Mr. Obama thanked King Abdullah for the "critical role" played by Saudi officials to disrupt the plot.
(source:voanews.com)
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