WASHINGTON - A bomber from the al-Qaidaaffiliate in Yemen sent to blow up a US-bound airliner lastmonth was actually a double agent who infiltrated the group andvolunteered for the suicide mission, US media reported onTuesday.
Working closely with the CIA, Saudi Arabia's intelligenceagency placed the operative inside al-Qaida in the ArabianPeninsula, or AQAP, with the goal of convincing his handlers togive him a new type of non-metallic bomb for the mission, theLos Angeles Times reported.
Western intelligence agencies have identified AQAP as amongthe most dangerous and determined al-Qaida affiliates in theworld, dedicated in part to attacks on the West.