

The strike came as new details surfaced about the foiling of the plot, including the disclosure that the operative who posed as a willing suicide bomber and later turned the device over to authorities was a British citizen, according to Western officials.
U.S. and Yemeni officials say the would-be bomber at the heart of an al-Qaida bomb plot was actually an informant. He was working for the CIA and Saudi Arabian intelligence when he was given the bomb.
The operative’s background as a Saudi with a British passport helps to explain why he may have been selected by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to smuggle an advanced explosive onto a U.S.-bound flight. In reality, officials said, the operative was working as part of an elaborate espionage mission directed by the CIA and its Saudi counterpart.
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