Al Qaeda Suspect Admits New York Bomb Plot
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11:29pm UK, Monday February 22, 2010
Rob Cole, Sky News Online
An al Qaeda suspect has pleaded guilty to a plot to bomb New York and bring “martyrdom to Manhattan”.
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Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan immigrant, admitted his part in a plan to attack the city’s subway system in an atrocity that would have been the worst strike against the US since the 9/11 attacks.
Zazi pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, and providing material support to the al Qaeda.
He faces maximum sentences of life in prison for the first two charges and 15 years for the third.
“The plan was to conduct a martyrdom operation in Manhattan,” the 25-year-old told the court.
“To me, it meant I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan,” Zazi added.
His plea appears to be part of a bargain in which he could receive a more lenient sentence in return for cooperating with investigators.
To me, it meant I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan.
New York bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi
Authorities said he had planned the attack for September 2009, on the eight anniversary of 9/11.
Zazi said he and unnamed others – believed to be two co-defendants who went to high school with him in the New York City borough of Queens – travelled to Pakistan en route to Afghanistan in 2008 in order to “fight alongside (the) Taliban against the United States and its allies.”
“While we were in Pakistan we were recruited by al Qaeda. Al Qaeda asked us to return to the United States to conduct martyrdom operations,” he said.
Zazi was arrested on September 20 in Denver, where he worked as an airport shuttle bus driver.
Prosecutors say he carried bomb-making instructions in a laptop and had been shopping for large quantities of chemicals found in beauty products that could have been the ingredients for explosives.
They also say he received explosives training in Peshawar, Pakistan, a hotbed of al Qaeda activity.
According to prosecutors, Zazi went to New York to prepare the alleged bombing campaign, using weapons of “mass destruction”, but left after receiving a tip-off that he was being watched by federal agents.
admin @ February 23, 2010