Terrorist attack fizzles on plane over U.S . – The U.S. system for checking suspicious travelers and airport security came under new scrutiny after an alleged terrorist bent on destroying a jetliner was thwarted only by a malfunctioning detonator and some quick-thinking passengers. An apparent malfunction in a device designed to detonate the high explosive PETN may have been all that saved the 278 passengers and the crew aboard Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas Day. No undercover air marshal was on board and passengers subdued the suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , 23, of Nigeria. Abdulmutallab was hospitalized with burns from the attack and was read

an indictment filed Saturday in federal court in Detroit charging him with attempting to destroy or wreck an aircraft and placing a destructive device in a plane. He was released from the hospital Sunday to the custody of federal

marshals, who would not reveal where he was being held. But his lawyer said he was being held at a federal prison in Milan, Mich.