Global Terrorism: USA

Somali-born teen held in US for car bomb plot

Associated Pressplot, SomaliPosted: Sun Nov 28 2010, 01:32 hrsPortland:

Undercover agents in a sting operation stopped a Somali-born teenager from blowing up a van full of explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland, federal authorities said. The bomb was a dud supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested Friday just after he dialled a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents swooping down on him. Yelling “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!”— Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.Arthur Balizan, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oregon said, “Our investigation shows Mohamud was committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale.” The FBI affidavit that outlined the investigation alleges Mohamud planned the attack for months, at one point mailing bomb components to FBI operatives, whom he believed were assembling the device.Mohamud was warned about the seriousness of his plan, that women and children could be killed, and that he could back out, but he told agents: “Since I was 15 I thought about this.

A naturalised US citizen living in Corvallis, he was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and is scheduled for a court appearance Monday.Authorities allowed the plot to proceed for enough evidence to charge him. US Attorney Dwight Holton released federal court documents to The Associated Press, that show the sting operation began in June after an undercover agent learned that Mohamud had been in e-mail contact with an “unindicted associate” in Pakistan’s northwest. They used coded language in which Mohamud discussed travelling to Pakistan to prepare for “violent jihad,” the documents said. In June, an FBI agent contacted Mohamud “under the guise of being affiliated with” the suspected terrorist. An undercover agent met him a month later in Portland, where they “discussed violent jihad,” according to the court documents.Mohamud and agents ran a trial detonation in the outskirts earlier this month. On Friday, an agent and Mohamud drove to downtown Portland in a van carrying six 55-gallon drums with detonation cords and plastic caps, but all inert. They left the van near the ceremony site and Mohamud was given a cell phone to blow up the vehicle. There was no detonation when he dialled, and when he tried again federal agents and police made their move.  (indian express)

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