U.S: jury selection begins for accused 'Underwear Bomber' Nigerian national Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, ahead of his 4 Oct trial in Detroit accused of attempting to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253 and with placing a destructive device on an aircraft after he allegedly boarded a plane heading for Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Christmas Day 2009 with a bomb sewn in to his underwear. Abdulmutallab, who was on the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, was burned but no other passenger was injured. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction to kill nearly 300 people in attack for which al-Qaida claimed responsibility. U.S. President Barack Obama subsequently ordered a review of airline safety procedures. Case no. 2:10-cr-20005

Event URL: http://www.mied.uscourts.gov