Master-explosives-turned-brother-bomb-Evil-genius-created-devices-sewn-body-virtually-undetectable.html

Ibrahim Al-Asiri was born into respectable middle class Saudi family
He first tried out chilling tactics on willing younger brother, Abdullah
In 2010, his devices were found in printer cartridges on US bound plane

Published: 23:25 GMT, 3 July 2014 | Updated: 23:28 GMT, 3 July 2014

Saudi bomb maker Ibrahim Al-Asiri, who is described by a US official as 'an evil genius'

He is Al Qaeda’s most valued bombmaker and the creator of explosives so dangerous only an ‘evil genius’ could have come up with them.

Such is the skill of chemistry student Ibrahim Al-Asiri, who was born into a respectable middle class Saudi family, that his devices can be sewn inside a human body.

And terrifyingly, because they contain no metal elements, they are virtually undetectable and can evade airport security.

The master explosives-maker first tried out his chilling tactics on his willing younger brother, Abdullah.

He implanted a suicide bomb inside the 23-year-old for an assassination attempt on a Saudi Arabian prince.

Although the device went off as planned, Abdullah succeeded in killing only himself and not his target. Al-Asiri’s sinister creations have also been used on two high-profile terror attempts in the US, including the underwear bomb carried by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his attempt to blow up a plane carrying 300 passengers over America on Christmas Day 2009.

In 2010, his devices were found in printer cartridges on a cargo plane bound for the US. They were intercepted in the UK.

In May 2012, US officials said they believed Al-Asiri had built an improved version of the underwear bomb, which was given to a Saudi-recruited double agent to blow up on a US-bound flight.

After the discovery of the printer cartridge bomb, then US deputy national security adviser John Brennan said analysis of the devices showed they were made by the same person who was behind the underwear bomb.

He said: ‘He’s a very dangerous individual – clearly somebody who has a fair amount of training and experience. We need to find him and bring him to justice as soon as we can.’

US congressman and former homeland security committee chairman Peter King said Al-Asiri was an ‘evil genius’, adding: ‘He is constantly expanding, he is constantly adjusting.’ Intelligence sources believe Al-Asiri, who is known as Abu Saleh, has been passing on his lethal bomb-making expertise from his base in Yemen to Syria, with plans to attack transatlantic flights.

Al-Asiri's sinister creations have also been used on two high-profile terror attempts in the US, including the underwear bomb carried by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in his attempt to blow up a plane carrying 300 passengers over America on Christmas Day 2009

He is also feared to be training British fanatics in Yemen, where MI6 and MI5 believe extremists pose a real threat to the UK.

All his bombs use a chemical fuse and a high-level industrial explosive known as PETN, or pentaerythritol tetranitrate. The same material was used in 2001 by British shoe bomber Richard Reid when he tried to destroy a transatlantic flight.

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Ben Friedman, a US expert in defence and homeland security, said the authorities were worried about bombs implanted inside people or explosives made from non-metallic elements.

But he said it was important to remember that previous attempts to blow up planes had failed.

‘These guys are serial failures,’ he added. ‘It’s not like they have a track record of unmitigated success. It’s closer to the opposite.’

In May 2012, US officials said they believed Al-Asiri had built an improved version of the underwear bomb (pictured), which was given to a Saudi-recruited double agent to blow up on a US-bound flight

There have been several attempts on Al-Asiri’s life, including US drone attacks, but he has so far managed to stay hidden in Yemen, perfecting and sharing knowledge of how to make his bombs. The son of a soldier, Al-Asiri was born into a well-off family in 1982. In 2007 they were living in the Islamic holy city of Mecca when he and his younger brother disappeared.

They surfaced in Yemen in 2009, where it emerged they had joined the newly-formed Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

In August of that year, Abdullah pretended to be an Islamist militant who wanted to reform, and was given an audience with Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, Saudi Arabia’s top counter-terrorism official.

Once stood next to the royal, he detonated the bomb, hidden inside part of his intestine. But the blast went straight downwards meaning Abdullah was torn in two and the prince escaped with minor injuries.

Al-Asiri was named as one of Saudi Arabia’s most wanted terrorists in 2009 and in 2011 joined the US wanted list.