Al Qaeda Group Claims Bomb Attempt

The Wall Street Journal reports that "Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the branch of the extremist group based in Yemen, appeared to claim responsibility for the Christmas Day attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jet, ratcheting up worry about the organization's expanding reach and potency. The group said it provided the Nigerian suspect in the attempted bombing, identified by U.S. officials as Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, with 'a technically advanced device,' according to a statement issued by the group Monday and posted on several Web sites routinely used by Islamic militants. The statement said the device failed to detonate because of an unspecified technical fault. Like other statements from the group in the past, it couldn't definitively be verified." Tweet