Nigerian Suspected in Airline Bombing Plot

UNDATED (AP) - A prominent Nigerian banker says he's meeting

with security officials because he fears his son may have tried to

bomb a Northwest Airlines flight to Detroit.

He says he's traveling from his home in Nigeria's

Muslim-dominated north to talk with officials in the country's

capital. He says his son had been studying in London.

Meanwhile, counterterrorism officials are trying to figure out

how the suspect managed to get an explosive mixture on board

yesterday's flight from Amsterdam.

The device fizzled when the suspect tried to detonate it and he

was subdued by fellow passengers aboard the Northwest Airlines

flight. Law enforcement officials say the man appeared to be badly

burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there.

Officials say the components were apparently mixed in-flight and

included a powdery substance.

The investigation is spreading across three continents. In

Yemen, authorities are checking into the Nigerian suspect's claims

that he picked up the explosive device and instructions in that

country.

Meanwhile, University College London says a student by the

suspect's name studied engineering there. London police say they're

working with U.S. investigators on the case. Also today,

authorities have been conducting a search at an apartment building

where the suspect is said to have lived.

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