WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Presidential adviserJohn Brennan thanked the Saudis and others Friday for helping uncover a terrorist attempt to fly improvised bombs into the United States.
"The United States is grateful to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for their assistance in developing information that helped underscore the imminence of the threat emanating from Yemen," Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter-terrorism, said in a statement. "Their assistance, along with the hard work of the U.S. counter-terrorism community, the United Kingdom, the UAE [United Arab Emirates], and other friends and partners helped make it possible to increase our vigilance and identify the suspicious packages in Dubai and East Midlands Airport [in England]".
Brennan told reporters during a briefing in Washington it didn't appear the incidents involving two cargo planes were some sort of dry run by terrorists because the explosives found "were in a form that was designed to try to carry out some type of attack" and were "intended to do harm".
He declined to "speculate" in how much damage the bombs, which he said were about the size of "breadboxes," could have caused if detonated.
"We don't know yet how they were intended to be activated," he said.
UPI
