Yemen confirms airline suspect was in the country

Sana'a, Dec 29 : Yemen confirmed Monday that the man suspected of trying to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day bad been in the country for months before leaving earlier in December.

The foreign ministry said Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, was in Yemen since August studying Arabic. He had obtained a visa to study in the capital Sana'a.

Abdulmutallab has reportedly told US authorities that he received training from Al Qaeda in Yemen, and was also provided with the explosives that failed to detonate in the attack on a Delta/Northwest Airlines flight shortly before it was to land in Detroit.

Yemeni authorities are now tracing Abdulmutallab's contacts while in Yemen, and will provide the US government with whatever information the investigation produces, the ministry said.