A young Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a US airliner boasted during his interrogation that some 20 others were being trained to carry out similar attacks, CBS reported.
British intelligence officials said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, had “boasted that close to 20 other young Muslim men were being prepared in Yemen to use the same technique to blow up airliners,” CBS reported.
Abdulmutallab on Friday pleaded not guilty to six charges arising out of the botched Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Flight 253 from Detroit to Amsterdam.
He allegedly stitched two highly explosive substances into his clothes, and tried to detonate them as the plane with 290 people approached Detroit.
But the device failed, and instead Abdulmutallab was arrested after being overpowered by passengers and crew.
He has since been interrogated by FBI and US agents, leading the investigation.