Author: IANS
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 8, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Al-Qaida-leaders-in-Pakistan-directed-2009-New-York-subway-plot/articleshow/6141309.cms
Veteran al-Qaida terrorist leaders in Pakistan
directed and managed a foiled 2009 plot to attack New York's subway system
and also planned to strike the United Kingdom, US prosecutors have alleged.
The revelations came as prosecutors on Wednesday
unsealed a terrorism indictment charging Adnan El Shukrijumah, al-Qaida's
leader of external operations, who has been the subject of a worldwide manhunt
for seven years, with helping to recruit Colorado resident Najibullah Zazi
for the foiled attack.
Zazi's attempt to assemble and detonate improvised
explosive devices was derailed by federal investigators on the eve of the
eighth anniversary of the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Zazi pleaded guilty
in February to his role in the plot.
Attorney General Eric Holder has called the
thwarted New York plot one of the most dangerous since 9/11.
The investigation involving authorities in
the US and Britain also revealed that El Shukrijumah's associates were communicating
with a British citizen, Abid Naseer, about a 2009 plot foiled in Manchester,
England. Naseer was arrested on Wednesday by British authorities.
Between September and December 2008, prosecutors
allege that El Shukrijumah and others recruited Zazi, a former Denver airport
shuttle driver, and two other co-conspirators to conduct suicide bombings
in New York using devices made from ordinary household supplies, such as hydrogen
peroxide, acetone, flour and oil.
El Shukrijumah, a 34-year-old native of Saudi
Arabia who once lived in South Florida, is known within al-Qaida circles as
"Ja'far the Pilot" because of his skills as a pilot.
His rank in al-Qaida was first outlined to
federal investigators by al-Qaida operations chief Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
following his capture. Mohammed, a Pakistani in US custody, is awaiting trial
as the mastermind of the Sep 11 attacks.
El Shukrijumah is charged specifically with
providing and conspiring to provide material support to al-Qaida, conspiring
to use weapons of mass destruction, assisting the receipt of military training,
committing and attempting to commit an act of terrorism transcending national
boundaries and using firearms in relation to the same offences.
He remains a fugitive and is the subject of
a $5 million reward.
"These charges underscore the global
nature of the terrorist threat we face," Assistant Attorney General David
Kris said.
