The Zazi plot thickens...By Wes Bruer
April 12, 2010 8:59 PM
The arrest of a fourth suspect in Pakistan in connection with the foiled New York City terror plot has revealed some unsettling details about Najibullah Zazi's plan to attack the city's transit system. Authorities have been tight-lipped about the Pakistani man who, according to officials, "may not ultimately be charged in connection with the plot," though he is to be extradited to the US soon. Given that authorities have already gained the cooperation of Zazi, the would-be lead bomber, more details are expected to emerge once the fourth suspect has been questioned.
Since February, when Najibullah Zazi pled guilty to the charges of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction and supporting al Qaeda (and also later admitted to having received terrorist training in Pakistan as recently as 2008), officials have been able to obtain more information about the specific details of the plot. From the New York Daily News, which broke the story:
Zazi and his two Queens friends allegedly
planned to strap explosives to their bodies and split up, heading for the Grand Central and Times Square stations - the two busiest subway stations in New York City. They would board trains on the 1, 2, 3 and 6 lines at rush hour and planned
to position themselves in the middle of the packed trains to ensure the maximum carnage when they blew themselves up, sources said.
The attack was to take place on Sept. 14, 15 or 16 - as soon as the bombs had been assembled - with Sept 14 the most likely date, sources said.
According to the New York Daily News report, Zazi has also confessed further details about the training he received in Pakistan:
There they were recruited by Al Qaeda for the Manhattan "martyrdom" mission.
They
received military training at a terror camp in the Waziristan region, and Zazi was taken aside and given special bomb-making training because of his knowledge of the subway system.
The planned suicide attack, to be carried out by Zazi and co-conspirators Adis Medunajin and Zarein Ahmedzay (who have pled not guilty), was very similar to the 2005 London transit attacks, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters and wounded hundreds more.
In the wake of the recent Moscow transit suicide bombings carried out by the al Qaeda-affiliated Caucasus Emirate that killed 39 people, these latest developments in the Zazi case heighten security fears in major cities, reigniting the threat of terror attacks on soft targets such as transit systems.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2010/04/the_zazi_plot_thickens.php
