Al-Qaeda militants allegedly tried to use two dogs, filled with explosives, in an attempt to down a U.S. cargo plane in 2008, according to Britain’s The Sun newspaper on Saturday.
The newspaper reported that militants had stuffed two bulldogs with explosives and detonators in 2008. They were due to be taken onto a U.S. cargo plane at Baghdad International Airport but were discovered by U.S. officers.
“It shows al-Qaeda militants’ determination to wreak destruction by any means,” one terrorism expert told The Sun.
The two bulldogs were found dead by the U.S. officers who discovered they had explosives inside of them. According to the report, the bombs inside the dogs had been timed to explode during the aircraft’s flight to Los Angeles.
The newspaper said the attempted attack had been kept secret by U.S. officials for two years, but did not name its source except to say the information was revealed in France.
Last week, on October 29, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula attempted to bomb two U.S.-bound cargo planes by sending plastic explosives via mail from Yemen. The bombs, one discovered in Dubai and the other in England, were defused minutes before they were timed to explode.
