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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was to appear in court later Saturday facing charges that he tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane with 290 people on board as it began its final descent on Friday into Detroit.
CNN reported that the hearing could take place at the University of Michigan medical center, where Abdulmutallab was being treated for burn injuries sustained as a device strapped to his body burst into flames but failed to explode properly.
"A preliminary FBI analysis found that the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a high explosive," the charge sheet said.
Abdulmutallab confessed once in custody that he had mixed a syringe full of chemicals with powder taped to his leg to try and blow up the Northwest Airlines flight, according to senior officials quoted by US media.
Other law enforcement officials quoted by ABC News and NBC said the suspect had also admitted that he was trained by Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and given specific instructions about how to carry out the attack.
"This alleged attack on a US airplane on Christmas Day shows that we must remain vigilant in the fight against terrorism at all times," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
"Had this alleged plot to destroy an airplane been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured."
Questions mounted over how Abdulmutallab managed to sneak an incendiary device past airport security in Amsterdam and Lagos, where he started his journey. Dutch authorities said he was carrying a valid US visa.
The attack, which sparked alarm and fear among the 279 passengers and 11 crew on board the Airbus A330, had echoes of British-born Richard Reid's botched "shoe-bomb" attempt almost eight years ago to the day.
British police searched addresses in London, including an upscale mansion flat where the suspect is believed to have lived while studying mechanical engineering at University College London (UCL) between 2005 and 2008.
Nigerian newspaper This Day reported that Abdulmutallab's wealthy businessman father, Umaru Mutallab, had grown so distraught over his son's religious extremism that he contacted US authorities about it in mid-2009.
Meanwhile, the hero of Northwest Airlines Flight 253, a Dutch video producer and director by the name of Jasper Schuringa, was achieving cult status on the Internet for tackling the would-be bomber and helping the crew to restrain him.
Schuringa told CNN how he had jumped over the passenger next to him and lunged onto Abdulmutallab's seat as the suspect held a burning object between his legs.
"I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," said Schuringa, adding that he stripped off the suspect's clothes to check for explosives before a crew member helped handcuff him.
"My hands are pretty burned. I am fine," said Schuringa, who within a day of the attack already had four Facebook sites dedicated in his honor with new members signing up in their droves.
White House officials and US lawmakers called the incident a terror attack and President Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii with his family, ordered security measures to be stepped up at airports.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had put additional screening measures in place for all domestic and international flights, and urged holiday travelers to remain vigilant.
Observers were baffled that a man reportedly listed for some time in a US intelligence database had managed to board a plane with an incendiary device.
Dutch anti-terrorism officials stressed that proper procedures had been followed on their end, and that US authorities had cleared the flight for departure.
The attack, eight years after "shoe-bomber" Reid tried something similar on a flight from Paris to Miami, served as a grim reminder to Americans of the specter of airborne terror.
It was Christmas week in 2001, with the country still reeling from the September 11 attacks, when Reid tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet by lighting explosives in his shoes. He is serving a life sentence in a US prison.
Checks were tightened Saturday at major world airports, including in Paris, Rome and London, but US officials said there were no immediate plans to elevate the nation's aviation threat level from orange to red, its most severe status.
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CNN reported that the hearing could take place at the University of Michigan medical center, where Abdulmutallab was being treated for burn injuries sustained as a device strapped to his body burst into flames but failed to explode properly.
"A preliminary FBI analysis found that the device contained PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a high explosive," the charge sheet said.
Abdulmutallab confessed once in custody that he had mixed a syringe full of chemicals with powder taped to his leg to try and blow up the Northwest Airlines flight, according to senior officials quoted by US media.
Other law enforcement officials quoted by ABC News and NBC said the suspect had also admitted that he was trained by Al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and given specific instructions about how to carry out the attack.
"This alleged attack on a US airplane on Christmas Day shows that we must remain vigilant in the fight against terrorism at all times," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
"Had this alleged plot to destroy an airplane been successful, scores of innocent people would have been killed or injured."
Questions mounted over how Abdulmutallab managed to sneak an incendiary device past airport security in Amsterdam and Lagos, where he started his journey. Dutch authorities said he was carrying a valid US visa.
The attack, which sparked alarm and fear among the 279 passengers and 11 crew on board the Airbus A330, had echoes of British-born Richard Reid's botched "shoe-bomb" attempt almost eight years ago to the day.
British police searched addresses in London, including an upscale mansion flat where the suspect is believed to have lived while studying mechanical engineering at University College London (UCL) between 2005 and 2008.
Nigerian newspaper This Day reported that Abdulmutallab's wealthy businessman father, Umaru Mutallab, had grown so distraught over his son's religious extremism that he contacted US authorities about it in mid-2009.
Meanwhile, the hero of Northwest Airlines Flight 253, a Dutch video producer and director by the name of Jasper Schuringa, was achieving cult status on the Internet for tackling the would-be bomber and helping the crew to restrain him.
Schuringa told CNN how he had jumped over the passenger next to him and lunged onto Abdulmutallab's seat as the suspect held a burning object between his legs.
"I pulled the object from him and tried to extinguish the fire with my hands and threw it away," said Schuringa, adding that he stripped off the suspect's clothes to check for explosives before a crew member helped handcuff him.
"My hands are pretty burned. I am fine," said Schuringa, who within a day of the attack already had four Facebook sites dedicated in his honor with new members signing up in their droves.
White House officials and US lawmakers called the incident a terror attack and President Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii with his family, ordered security measures to be stepped up at airports.
The Department of Homeland Security said it had put additional screening measures in place for all domestic and international flights, and urged holiday travelers to remain vigilant.
Observers were baffled that a man reportedly listed for some time in a US intelligence database had managed to board a plane with an incendiary device.
Dutch anti-terrorism officials stressed that proper procedures had been followed on their end, and that US authorities had cleared the flight for departure.
The attack, eight years after "shoe-bomber" Reid tried something similar on a flight from Paris to Miami, served as a grim reminder to Americans of the specter of airborne terror.
It was Christmas week in 2001, with the country still reeling from the September 11 attacks, when Reid tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet by lighting explosives in his shoes. He is serving a life sentence in a US prison.
Checks were tightened Saturday at major world airports, including in Paris, Rome and London, but US officials said there were no immediate plans to elevate the nation's aviation threat level from orange to red, its most severe status.
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