The United States today said senior al-Qaeda leadership based in Pakistan directed attacks on the New York sub way system, and plotted to use western operatives to attack targets in Britain.
The United States today said senior al-Qaeda leadership based in Pakistan directed attacks on the New York sub way system, and plotted to use western operatives to attack targets in Britain.
The department of justice today unsealed charges against five alleged members of al-Qaeda, including Adnan Shukrijumah whose name is on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorists, for plotting attacks on the United States and United Kingdom.
The charges reveal that the plot against New York's subway system uncovered in September 2009 involving Colorado resident Najibullah Zazi was directed by senior al-Qaeda
leadership in Pakistan, and was also directly related to a
scheme by al-Qaeda plotters in Pakistan to use Western operatives to attack a target in the United Kingdom.
The superseding indictment, which was returned and unsealed today in the Eastern District of New York, charges the five defendants each with several terrorism violations.
Apart from Shukrijumah, who is also known as "Hamad", other defendants are Adis Medunjanin alias "Mohammad;" Abid Naseer; Tariq Ur Rehman; and a fifth defendant known as
"Ahmad," "Sohaib" or "Zahid."
Each of the defendants faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
According to the indictment, court filings and plea proceedings in the case, the plot involving Zazi was organised by Saleh al-Somali, Rashid Rauf, and El Shukrijumah, who were
then-leaders of al-Qaeda's "external operations" program
dedicated to terrorist attacks in the United States and other
Western countries.
Between September and December 2008, Saleh and El Shukrijumah recruited Zazi and Zazi's co-conspirators, Zarein
Ahmedzay and Medunjanin, to conduct suicide bombings in New
York City using improvised explosive devices made from
supplies such as hydrogen peroxide, acetone, flour and oil.
According to the indictment and court filings, Saleh communicated with Zazi through "Ahmad," an al-Qaeda
facilitator in Peshawar, Pakistan.
In early September 2009, after Zazi constructed the detonator explosives for the attack, he emailed with "Ahmad" in Pakistan about the proper ingredients for the flour-based main charge explosive.
Zazi pleaded guilty to his role in the New York subway plot on February 22, 2010; Ahmedzay similarly pleaded guilty on April 23, 2010.
The indictment adds formal charges against El Shukrijumah, a 34-year-old native of Saudi Arabia who served as one of the leaders of al-Qaeda's external operations program.
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