20091227

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Saturday charged a Nigerian man with trying to blow up a U.S. passenger jet with high explosives and were investigating his claim that he had links to al Qaeda.

The suspect, who was being treated for burns at a Michigan hospital, was overpowered by passengers and crew on the Delta Air Lines plane from Amsterdam on Christmas Day.

The Justice Department identified the suspect as a 23-year-old Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and charged him with attempting to blow up the plane by setting alight an explosive device attached to his body.

"Had this alleged plot to destroy an airplane been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"We will continue to investigate this matter vigorously, and we will use all measures available to our government to ensure that anyone responsible for this attempted attack is brought to justice."

The charges were read to Abdulmutallab during a hearing at the hospital, where he appeared in a medical gown and wheelchair. Another hearing will be held on Monday in federal court in Detroit and bail will not be considered until a separate hearing on January 8.

An initial FBI analysis found the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, one of the explosives carried by "shoe bomber" Richard Reid in his failed attempt to blow up a U.S. passenger jet days before Christmas in 2001, months after the September 11 attacks.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said authorities were looking at the possibility that Abdulmutallab had ties to al Qaeda in Yemen.