Obama vows to track all ‘who were involved’ in Detroit flight bombing bid

NEW YORK - President Barack Obama has vowed to track down “all who were involved” in the trans Atlantic flight bombing plot, and assured Americans that he will use “every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us.”

Emerging out of his three-day seclusion, Obama said: “We will use every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks on the U.S. homeland.”

Obama acknowledged that the terror carried out by Nigerian man, who tried to set off explosives aboard a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight, was not that of a lone wolf but of a trained Qaeda operative.

“We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable. This was a serious reminder of the dangers that we face and the nature of those who threaten our homeland,” The New York Times quoted him, as saying.

Obama’s speech coincides with a Yemen-based group called Al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula taking responsibility of the attack.

Earlier, the same group had vowed to revenge for military operations carried out by the Yemeni government this month, which were backed by the US, in which the AQAP claims 50 people died.

“We will not let Muslim women and children’s blood be spilled without taking revenge,” the statement had said.

The statement accompanied by a photograph of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, called the Nigerian bomber a hero who had “penetrated all modern and sophisticated technology and devices and security barriers in airports of the world” and “reached his target.”

The statement said that “mujahedeen brothers in the manufacturing department” had supplied the explosives. Although a “technical error” led to an “incomplete detonation,” it said, the group will “continue on the same path.” (ANI)