Al Qaeda in Yemen is an extension of the terror outfit's core coming out of Pakistan, a top Obama Administration official has said.
"Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is an extension of al Qaeda core coming out of Pakistan. And, in my view, it is one of the most lethal and one of the most concerning of it," Assistant to the US President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security, John Brennan told reporters at a White House briefing.
He said that they have moved forward to try to execute this attack against the homeland.
"I think (they) demonstrated to us that we had a strategic sense of sort of where they were going, but we did not know they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here. We have taken that lesson, and so now we are full on top of it," Brennan said.
The US official termed the Nigerian terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as a terrorist, who unsuccessfully tried to blow up a NorthWest Airlines plane on December 25 over Detroit with some 300 people on board.
"He is a terrorist now," said Brennan.
Abdulmutallab has been charged with blowing up a US plane on December 25.