U.S. officials say they have stopped an al-Qaida bomb plot intended to destroy an airliner heading for the United States.

Authorities in Washington say the al-Qaida branch in Yemen intended to put a suicide bomber aboard a U.S.-bound jet and have him detonate explosives hidden in his underwear.

They say the plot was detected and the bomb was seized before any plane was at risk.

The White House National Security Council said in a statement Monday that U.S. President Barack Obama was first informed about the plot in April and has received regular updates about the situation. It said the president was assured that the device did not pose a threat to the public.

One account from the Associated Press says the would-be attackers were planning to execute the plot last week to mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Officials say the bomb was a redesign of a explosive that was used to try to blow up an airplane bound for Detroit from Amsterdam in 2009. A Nigerian man tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear on the Christmas Day flight.