A video has surfaced, showing the Nigerian youth, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, accused of attempting to blow up U.S plane training with Al Qaeda in Yemen.
The video obtained and broadcast by “ABC World News,” shows the 23-year-old Nigerian Farouk Muttalab firing weapons and speaking in Arabic about his impending attack.
The tape also includes an apparent martyrdom statement in Arabic from the 23-year old Nigerian justifying his actions against “the Jews and the Christians and their agents.” He says, “The enemy is in your lands with their armies, the Jews and the Christians and their agents.” He reads several passages from the Koran and adds, “God said if you do not fight back, He will punish you and replace you.”
He is shown reading from the Koran and saying, “God said those who punish you must be punished.”
A US intelligence official said that the preliminary judgment is that it is Abdulmutallab in the video and the footage is consistent with the understanding that he was in training. It is not clear where and when the video was made.
The videos also appear to support Abdulmutallab’s statements to the FBI that there are “others like me” who also trained with him in Yemen to carry out attacks against U.S. and western targets.
According to ABC news, the video was produced by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or Aqap.
Abdulmutallab and others are shown firing at targets, including a Jewish star and one labeled “un.”
Abdulmutallab was arrested on Christmas Day in Detroit after he allegedly attempted to set off a bomb on a Northwest Airlines jet. He has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges but U.S officials say that Mutallab has been cooperating with investigators, discussing his contacts in Yemen and providing intelligence in multiple terrorism investigations, according to U.S. officials.
