Parcel bomb plot: Saudis tipped 3 weeks before attack

Washington: US intelligence officials say a Saudi tip about a possible Al Qaida effort to bring down airplanes was relayed to US authorities in early October, nearly three weeks before the group's Yemen affiliate tried to ship mail bombs in planes to the United States.

The Saudi intelligence tip was the first warning that helped to head off what could have been a devastating series of plane explosions.

Western officials credit the Saudis with playing a crucial role in finding two mail bombs recovered last week in Dubai and Britain before they reached the United States.

US officials say the Saudi tip contained no mention of cargo planes, or any details of the plot.

However, they say it gave the US and other Western officials enough of a warning to know what to look for.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters.

Yemen Al Qaida claims parcel bomb plot

On Friday, the Yemen branch of Al Qaida claimed responsibility for a plot to send parcel bombs to the United States the monitoring website SITE said.

The Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) group posted the message on web forums, and called for more explosive parcels to "enlarge the circle of its application to include civilian aircraft in the West as well as cargo aircraft," SITE said.

Last week, two packages addressed to synagogues in Chicago containing the hard-to-detect explosive PETN hidden in printer ink cartridges were uncovered in Dubai and Britain's East Midlands Airport, sparking a global scare.

Washington said it believed the parcel bombs, found to have originated in Yeman, were the work of Saudi militant Ebrahim Hassan Al Asiri, believed to be a senior member of AQAP.

French officials said Thursday that British anti-terror police had disarmed one of the bombs just 17 minutes before it was due to detonate.