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Bomb plotter admits planning al-Qaida attack on NY subway
Source: Agencies |
February 24, 2010, Wednesday
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A FORMER airport shuttle driver accused of buying beauty supplies to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways has pleaded guilty, admitting he agreed to conduct an al-Qaida-led "martyrdom operation" because of United States involvement in his native Afghanistan.
Najibullah Zazi told a judge the terror network recruited him to be a suicide bomber in New York, where he went to high school and once worked a coffee cart just blocks from the World Trade Center site.
"I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," Zazi said in court on Monday.
The Associated Press learned earlier this month that the jailed Zazi had recently volunteered information about the bomb plot in the first step toward a plea deal. His cooperation suggests prosecutors hope to expand the case and bring charges against other suspects in one of the most serious terrorism threats in the US since September 11, 2001.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the terror investigation is ongoing.
Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization. He faces a life prison sentence without parole at a sentencing in June.
The bombings "could have been devastating," US Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington. "This attempted attack on our homeland was real, it was in motion, and it would have been deadly."
Zazi said in court he traveled to Pakistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight against the US military but was recruited by the terrorist network in Peshawar and went into a training camp in Waziristan, a tribal region of Pakistan where al-Qaida operates.
Zazi said he received weapons training at the camp and learned about explosives. He also said in court that he had been in contact with al-Qaida operatives while in Pakistan, but he did not identify them.
"During the training, al-Qaida leaders asked us to return to the United States and conduct martyrdom operation," he said. "We agreed to this."
The Pakistan Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Zazi's case.
Zazi admitted using notes taken at the training camp to build homemade explosives with beauty supplies purchased in the Denver suburbs and cooked up in a Colorado hotel room. He then drove the materials to New York just before the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. But he was stopped for a routine traffic check and aroused suspicions, prompting officers to watch his movements.
Najibullah Zazi told a judge the terror network recruited him to be a suicide bomber in New York, where he went to high school and once worked a coffee cart just blocks from the World Trade Center site.
"I would sacrifice myself to bring attention to what the US military was doing to civilians in Afghanistan," Zazi said in court on Monday.
The Associated Press learned earlier this month that the jailed Zazi had recently volunteered information about the bomb plot in the first step toward a plea deal. His cooperation suggests prosecutors hope to expand the case and bring charges against other suspects in one of the most serious terrorism threats in the US since September 11, 2001.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the terror investigation is ongoing.
Zazi, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and providing material support for a terrorist organization. He faces a life prison sentence without parole at a sentencing in June.
The bombings "could have been devastating," US Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington. "This attempted attack on our homeland was real, it was in motion, and it would have been deadly."
Zazi said in court he traveled to Pakistan in 2008 to join the Taliban and fight against the US military but was recruited by the terrorist network in Peshawar and went into a training camp in Waziristan, a tribal region of Pakistan where al-Qaida operates.
Zazi said he received weapons training at the camp and learned about explosives. He also said in court that he had been in contact with al-Qaida operatives while in Pakistan, but he did not identify them.
"During the training, al-Qaida leaders asked us to return to the United States and conduct martyrdom operation," he said. "We agreed to this."
The Pakistan Embassy in Washington declined to comment on Zazi's case.
Zazi admitted using notes taken at the training camp to build homemade explosives with beauty supplies purchased in the Denver suburbs and cooked up in a Colorado hotel room. He then drove the materials to New York just before the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks. But he was stopped for a routine traffic check and aroused suspicions, prompting officers to watch his movements.
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