Jet bomb suspect's journey 'began in Ghana'

The Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a transatlantic airline on Christmas Day began his journey in Ghana, the Nigerian authorities say.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab spent just half an hour at the airport in Lagos before transferring to an Amsterdam flight, the information minister said.

It had been assumed the 23-year-old began his journey in Nigeria.

But Ghana has disputed Nigeria's timings, saying Mr Abdulmutallab's stop-over was at least three hours.

A senior Ghanaian government official told the BBC that the suspect bought a one-way ticket to Lagos from Accra that would have given him more than three hours at the airport.

He accused the Nigerians of attempting to "pass the buck" as the search for security lapses continues, the BBC's West Africa Correspondent Caspar Leighton reports from Accra.

Nigeria's Information Minister Dora Akunyili earlier told the BBC that it was now known Mr Abdulmutallab had boarded a Virgin Nigeria plane from Accra to Nigeria, arriving at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed airport on 24 December.

His passport was scanned on entry into Nigeria at 2008 (1908GMT), and again, as he boarded the flight to Amsterdam, at 2035, she said.

"He was able to connect that fast because he was not checking in any luggage," she said.

From Amsterdam, the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 - with 278 passengers and 11 crew aboard - went on to the US city of Detroit.

Some 20 minutes before landing at the city's Metropolitan Airport, on the afternoon of Christmas Day, Mr Abdulmutallab was spotted by flight crew and passengers trying to ignite explosives strapped to his leg, investigators say.

The explosives failed to detonate, although it is thought they may have caused a small fire which burned the suspect's leg.

He is now in US custody.

Body scanners

The incident has led to a worldwide re-think about security procedures.

US President Barack Obama is reading reports received about the security lapses that led to the near-disaster in Detroit, and intends to meet security chiefs on Tuesday to discuss new measures.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Friday he had ordered a review of existing security measures, and would "move quickly" to enhance airport security.

Full-body scanners would be among the new technologies considered, he said.

The Dutch authorities announced earlier this week that body scanners would be used on all passengers flying from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport to the US.

Shebab 'help'

The incident has also thrown the spotlight on Yemen, where Mr Abdulmutallab was living in the months leading up to the attack.

It is feared the troubled country is becoming a major training centre for militants, with several hundred al-Qaeda members believed to be operating there.

In recent weeks, Yemen has launched major operations against al-Qaeda with US backing, but has warned that it needs more Western support to tackle the threat.

Britain's prime minister has called a summit in London to discuss radicalisation in Yemen.

Mr Brown's office said the 28 January event had support from Washington and the European Union, and Mr Brown aimed to attract Saudi Arabia and Gulf states.

Somalia's hardline Shabab group - which controls large swathes of Somalia, including much of the capital Mogadishu - said on Friday it would send fighters to help fellow militants in Yemen.

"We tell our Muslim brothers in Yemen that we will cross the water between us and reach your place to assist you fight the enemy of Allah," said Shebab's Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansour.

Obama orders air security review after jet bomb attempt

US President Barack Obama has ordered a review of air security measures after a Nigerian man allegedly tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet on Christmas Day.

Spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president wanted to know how a man carrying dangerous substance PETN had managed to board a flight in Amsterdam.

He said the system of watch-lists would also be examined after it emerged the man was listed and known to officials.

A US record for 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was created last month.

Mr Gibbs told ABC News that the review would examine, firstly, the system of watch-lists used by government agencies, which includes three lists which become progressively shorter as risk increases.

'Dangerous substance'

The lists include a watch-list, with some 550,000 names on it, a "selectee" list with 18,000 people within the higher-risk category, and a "no-fly" list with 4,000 names of people who are not permitted to board planes.

Mr Abdulmutallab was placed on the lowest-risk list by US authorities in November 2009, after his father alerted authorities about the behaviour of his son.

Mr Gibbs said the number of people on the watch-list was "a huge number".

"The president has asked that a review be undertaken to ensure that any information gets to where it needs to go, to the people making the decisions. The president wants to review some of these procedures and see if they need to be updated," he said.

On 24 December Mr Abdulmutallab travelled from Nigeria to Amsterdam and then on to Detroit with an explosive device attached to his body, US officials say.

Shortly before the flight was due to land in the US, he allegedly attempted to detonate the device beneath a blanket but he was overpowered by passengers and crew.

Mr Abdulmutallab, the son of a prominent Nigerian banker, has been charged by US authorities with trying to blow up the Northwest Airlines flight as it was coming in to land.

US airlines especially have tightened security after the attempt, increasing screenings and body searches and, in some cases, confining passengers to their seats without pillows or blankets for the last hour of their flight.

Mitigation measures

Mr Gibbs said "air detection capabilities" would also be examined as part of the review.

"The president has asked the Department of Homeland Security to answer the - quite frankly - the very real question about how somebody with something as dangerous as PETN could have gotten onto a plane in Amsterdam."

PETN, or pentaerythritol, is the same material used by convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.

Mr Abdulmutallab's route originally began in Yemen, from where he travelled to Ethiopia, then to Ghana and finally Nigeria.

According to Nigeria's information minister, Mr Abdulmutallab had arrived and flown out of Nigeria in the space of a single day.

"The man in question has been living outside the country for a while," said Dora Akunyili.

"He sneaked into Nigeria on the 24th of December and left the same day."

Nigerian authorities, who on Sunday pledged to co-operate fully with the US investigation, said screening would be enforced for all passengers passing through the country's 22 airports.

Wealthy or influential people and their families are often allowed to skip checks, media reports say.

Speaking to ABC News, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said there was no immediate indication that Mr Abdulmutallab was part of a broader terror plot.

"Right now we have no indication that it is part of anything larger. But obviously the investigation continues. And we have instituted more screening and what we call mitigation measures at airports," she said.