Islamabad: Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), is planning to launch an attack on an American airliner, a British paper, citing intelligence sources, has claimed.

The Sunday Times claimed AQAP had recruited a Norwegian Muslim convert and given him terrorist training in Yemen, and that the group was believed to have selected a US passenger jet as a target.

“The Norwegian recruit goes under the name of Muslim Abu Abdurrahman,” the newspaper said.

“He is understood to be in his thirties and a 'clean skin', with no previous criminal record. He converted in 2008 and quickly became radicalised,” the paper said.

"He later travelled to Yemen, where he has spent several months to complete his training,” the report added.

According to The News, the CIA foiled a similar AQAP plot to blow up a US-bound airliner in May.

AQAP is said to behind the 2009 Christmas plot in which a bomb hidden in a Nigerian attacker's underwear failed to detonate on a plane bound for Detroit.