Link between explosive packages and 'underwear' bomb: US

The explosive devices found in courier packages on planes bound for the US last week was an al-Qaeda effort and built by same persons behind the crude Christmas Day 'underwear bomb' designed to bring down an airplane, a top US counter-terrorism official said today.

John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counter-Terrorism, said indications are right now that it is the same individual who made the "underwear bomb" for the Christmas Day bomber and other similar attempts in the past.

"I think the sophistication of these IEDs shows, at least in my mind, that it was an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula effort, and that there are a number of people that are involved in this. And so it's not just these two individuals. We're looking for a lot more," he told ABC News in an interview.

One package was found in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The other was discovered at an airport in England.

He said the individual who has been making these bombs, "whether it be the one that was given to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, or was the one that was attempted to assassinate Prince Mohammed bin Nayef of Saudi Arabia, or the ones that were found in these packages, is a very dangerous individual".

"I think the indications are right now based on the forensics analysis that it's an individual who has been responsible for putting these devices together, the same," Brennan said, adding these explosives could have brought down a plane.

He agreed with the Qatar Airways statement that the package laden with explosives that ended up in Dubai actually traveled on two of its passenger planes from Yemen to Doha, and then from Doha to Dubai.

They are saying that this PETN explosive simply evaded their X-ray screening, their sniffer dogs.

He also called for a relook at different airports to see if there is need for any adjustment of procedures or screening methods or technologies.

"We need to be able to detect these packages, whether they be on a cargo flight or whether they be on a passenger flight," Brennan said.

Brennan said the timely information provided by Saudis saved lot of lives here in the US.

"They contacted us immediately, and it was a race against the clock to find those packages, to neutralise them. And so we owe a debt of gratitude to the Saudis. I think their actions really saved lives here," he said.

He also underlined the need for examining "carefully" whether they were going to be detonated on the aircraft or they were intended for the destination.

"The British believe that these IEDs were going to be detonated while they were on board the aircraft, wherever that might have been," he said.

"But what we have to do is to look very carefully at whether or not they were going to be detonated on the aircraft or they were intended for the destination, and that's where they were going to be detonated," he said in response to a question.

Meanwhile, a woman believed to be connected to the plot to send explosive packages bound for the United States has been arrested in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

A female relative of the woman was also being questioned by Yemeni authorities, the CNN quoted an unnamed US government official as saying. The relationship between the two women was not immediately known.

Authorities are looking at a specific material found in the devices and used in the foiled "underwear bomb" attempt on Christmas Day in 2009.