Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula: More Dangerous than Ever!
The terrorist group may have developed a new kind of bomb that can go undetected by airport security.
Since its formation in 2009, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been Al Qaeda’s most active and prominent Jihadist franchise.
AQAP is reported to have developed a method for smuggling explosives through airport metal detectors, body scanners and physical pat-downs.
Officials are reportedly worried that AQAP might recruit Westerners that have been radicalized from their experience fighting in the Syrian civil war to smuggle the new type of bomb aboard a US-bound passenger flight.
The concern has prompted the Department of Homeland Security to order the implementation of enhanced security measures on many US-bound flights from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. During the security examination, officers may also ask that owners power up some devices, including cell phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted onboard the aircraft. The traveler may also undergo additional screening. According to the New York Times, the tightened security will go into effect at 15 foreign airports. Homeland Security has shared some intelligence and details about the new security protocols with partner governments and airline companies.
AQAP is understood to be more focused than any other foreign terrorist group on carrying out direct attacks on the US homeland. The jihadist group thrice before has attempted unsuccessfully to bomb cargo and passenger planes flying to the United States. The organization’s head explosives expert, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, is still at large and has instructed a number of followers in the art of bomb making, officials said.
Some analysts believe that Al Qaeda has a new incentive to carry out a high-profile attack on the United States or Europe in order to burnish its jihadist reputation, following the recent successes of its excommunicated former franchise, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, in seizing control of broad swaths of land.
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport (DfT) said that security at the airports is to be tightened in response to intelligence warnings from the United States.
Regardless of the faction or allegiance, any radical Islamic terrorist group that has the ability to build bombs capable of escaping detection by airport security represents a huge threat. Tightening security by increased profiling and random security checks may not suffice to catch potential suicide bombers and the new generation of bombs could easily lead to an increased risk of an airplane being used, once again, as a weapon of mass destruction.
