Global Al Qaeda head Ayman Al Zawahiri.

CBS News – The CIA thwarted a plot by al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, a U.S. counter-terrorism official tells CBS News. The plot was first reported by the Associated Press.

U.S. officials say the plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also built to be used in a passenger’s underwear but contained a more refined detonation system, the AP reported.

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