Homeland Security News

There are growing concerns that an al Qaeda affiliate could use a new generation of liquid explosive, currently undetectable, in a potential attack, according to two senior U.S. government officials briefed on the terror threat that has prompted the closing of nearly two dozen U.S. embassies.

Though the Transportation Security Administration has long been concerned about liquid explosives being used in potential devices...the new tactic allows terrorists to dip ordinary clothing into the liquid to make the clothes themselves into explosives once dry.  "It's ingenious," one of the officials said.  Another senior official said that the tactic would not be detected by current security measures.

The officials said the new technique is believed to have been developed by the Yemen-based al Qaeda affiliate al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), home to notorious alleged bomb maker Ibrahim al-Asiri.

Read more:  ABC News

Interpol issued a global alert on Saturday asking member countries to help track hundreds of terrorism suspects who escaped in a wave of prison breaks over the past month — including in Iraq, Pakistan and Libya — and requesting assistance in determining whether any of the operations “are coordinated or linked.”

The alert from Interpol, the global police organization, came two days after the State Department ordered nearly two dozen diplomatic facilities closed in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia based on intelligence that an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Yemen might be plotting attacks in the coming days. On Saturday, several European governments said they, too, were temporarily closing their outposts in Yemen.

Read more: New York Times