British security services knew three years ago that the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a US-bound plane had “multiple communications” with extremists in Britain, a newspaper reported Saturday. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, charged with trying to blow up Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam as it approached Detroit on Christmas Day, studied in London between 2005 and 2008. US President Barack Obama says an Al-Qaeda affiliate based in Yemen was apparently behind the attack. The Sunday Times quoted counter-terrorism officials as saying that, during his London stay, Abdulmutallab had been “reaching out” to extremists who were under surveillance by UK security service MI5. None of the information was passed to US officials, which will prompt questions about intelligence failures before the attack, the newspaper said in an article posted on its website. It said British officials had now passed a file to their US counterparts on Abdulmutallab's activities while he was a student at University College London (UCL).
