Al-Qaeda affiliate claims responsibility for cargo bomb
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An al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen has claimed responsibility for the cargo bomb plot that has recently spurred security scare across the Atlantic, terrorist monitoring group SITE said Friday.
"Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) claimed the recently discovered plot involving explosive parcels, and also claimed responsibility for the downing of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai in September 2010," said the monitoring group.
The AQAP made the announcement in a statement issued on jihadist forums on Friday, according to the group.
Top U.S. officials have been suspecting that the AQAP was behind the terror plot, in which two suspicious packages were found late last month on cargo planes originated from Yemen and destined for the United States.
The AQAP also took responsibility for the crash of a UPS cargo plane in Dubai on Sept. 3, an incident that the U.S. authorities said was likely caused by an onboard fire and not associated with terrorist plot.
In the statement, the terrorist group said the Obama administration did not hold them responsible immediately after the cargo crash, perhaps because they "wanted to hide the incident so as to conceal security failure before the U.S. midterm elections."
The AQAP was responsible for the failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day last year, when a Nigerian man tried to bomb a U.S.- bound airliner.
