US says al Qaeda leader Awlaki directed underwear bomber
Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki personally directed and approved the attempted bombing of a US airliner which a Nigerian man tried to carry out on Christmas Day in 2009, according to new details released by federal prosecutors on Friday.
"Awlaki's last instructions to him were to wait until the airplane was over the United States and then to take the plane down," according to court papers. Awlaki left it up to Abdulmutallab to pick the flight and date, the papers said. (Reuters)
