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FBI Head Says Intel Leaks Like Al-Qaeda Plot Endanger Lives


Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Director Robert Mueller says the agency has launched an investigation into leaks about an Al-Qaeda plot to blow up a U.S. airliner.

Crucial details of the disrupted plot were reported by U.S. media earlier this month, hours after a drone strike on a key Al-Qaeda figure.

Mueller told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on May 16 that such leaks to the media -- which exposed how the CIA foiled the plot using a double agent -- put lives in danger and may harm the United States' ties with its allies.

Saudi authorities had reportedly informed Washington about the plot, after they sent a double agent into Yemen to probe reports that Al-Qaeda was developing an underwear bomb like the one used in the failed December 2009 attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound plane.

Based on reports by AFP and AP

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