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The White House believes an incident in which a passenger attempted to detonate an explosive aboard a US plane landing in Detroit was an attempted terrorist attack, CNN reported on Friday.
The passenger was a 23-year-old Nigerian who "definitely has terror connections," US Representative Peter King told Fox News.
King said the man attempted to light a "fairly sophisticated device" aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253, which was carrying 278 passengers and arriving from Amsterdam.
"This could have been catastrophic," said King, the most senior Republican on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.
President Barack Obama was informed of the incident, the White House said, and held a secure conference call with his national security team.
"He asked to arrange a subsequent secure call and... instructed that all appropriate measures be taken to increase security for air travel," the White House said.
"The president is actively monitoring the situation and receiving regular updates," the statement read.
