Al-Qaida Magazine Gives Blueprint for Airplane Bombs

Inspire, the English-language online magazine aimed at Western lone-wolf jihadists, released its latest edition on Christmas Eve with a cover story on how to build a bomb to sneak onto commercial airliners.

Inspire is published by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group is considered to be the most dangerous wing of the terrorist organization.

The magazine gives specific illustrated details on how to build a bomb inside a plastic water bottle case that it says cannot be detected by dogs, odor-detecting machines or metal detectors. Though the bomb could be detected by millimeter wave scanners, "in most cases they are not used in local airports," the magazine says.

The article specifically points to larger airlines based in the United States for maximum impact and to "crush the enemy's economy." American Airlines, Delta, United, and Continental are mentioned, though Continental merged with United in 2010.

It notes that United is the "world's largest airline with 86,852 employees."

Failing an attack over U.S. soil, the article lists British Airways, Easy Jet, Air France and Air France KL as alternative targets.

The article also suggests killing "economic personalities" such as former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and "wealthy entrepreneurs or company owners" such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The magazine is the 13th edition of the publication, and comes four years after the first edition contained the article "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."

That article is credited with inspiring the Boston Marathon bombers, who built their bombs inside pressure cookers. It credited the "al-Qaida chef" with the bomb-making recipe, as did the latest article, "The Hidden Bomb."

The article also praises several lone-wolves, including underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and Zale Thompson, who was shot to death after attacking a group of New York City police officers with an ax.

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