Incident Overview
On December 25, 2009, an attempted bombing occurred aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, an Airbus A330, as it prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport following a transatlantic flight from Amsterdam. The perpetrator was 23-year-old Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who used chemical explosives sewn to his underwear. The attempted bombing was attributed to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Perpetrator and Attribution
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, carried the explosives concealed in his underwear. The act was claimed by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a militant group based in Yemen. The attempted bombing was part of a series of attacks targeting aviation.
Media Nicknames
Due to the circumstances and date of the incident, Abdulmutallab was commonly nicknamed the "Underwear bomber" or "Christmas Day bomber" by American media outlets. The plot, had it succeeded, would have caused the worst plane crash in Michigan history, surpassing the 1987 crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255.