Results tagged “alqaeda”

It was previously reported that the Army psychiatrist who went on a deadly shooting spree at Fort Hood Thursday had been on the FBI's radar over some Internet postings about suicide bombers. Now ABC News has it that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan had been trying to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, and U.S. intelligence agencies knew about it months ago, because these al Qaeda suspects were under electronic surveillance. One of these is the former imam of a Virginia mosque who praised Hasan for the shooting on his website (cached).

With the federal authorities continuing their investigation of an alleged terror plot with roots in Denver and Queens, some New York City Muslims have accused the feds and NYPD of racial profiling. Queens Islamic activist Monami Maulik said over the weekend, "An entire community and people and religion should not be profiled and characterized as terrorists because of certain investigations."

In a harrowing report, CBS introduces us to yet another thing to dread and fear, courtesy of that innovative R&D team at Al Qaeda: Rectal bombs. It's been revealed that an Al Qaeda operative, who last month tried to assassinate Saudi Arabia's counter terrorism chief, detonated explosives in his butt. Abdullah Asieri had arranged a meeting with Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef to talk about a truce, but it was just a ruse to get close to him with his exploding ass.

Najibullah Zazi, the former Queens (current Denver) resident accused of plotting to bomb New York, was flown from Denver to face charges at Eastern District Court in Brooklyn. Yesterday, assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Neff said there was a "chilling, disturbing sequence of events that suggest the defendant was intent on making a bomb and being in New York on 9/11 for the purposes of using such an item...The defendant was in the throes of making a bomb and attempting to perfect his formulation." The U.S. Marshals' plane landed in Teterboro, NJ, where the NYPD picked Zazi and flew him by helicopter to Brooklyn, where he was placed in Sunset Park's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Now that Denver-area resident Najibullah Zazi may be admitting ties to Al Qaeda (apparently he met with some Al Qaeda operatives while in Pakistan) just a week after visiting Queens—prompting the FBI and NYPD to raid homes—the Daily News says apparently seven men attempted to "rent the biggest truck at a Queens U-Haul on Sept. 9."

[UPDATE]: Now Fox News says Zazi admits ties to Al Qaeda. More below. Najibullah Zazi, the former Queens resident whose return to the borough prompted FBI-NYPD raids of three homes in Queens, was questioned for over 8 hours by the feds in Colorado yesterday. Apparently CNN said that bomb-making diagrams were found on his laptop computer, but his lawyer Arthur Folsom said, "There's no diagram of a bomb. Do you really think the FBI would have allowed us to walk out of here?" and denied Zazi knows anyone from Al Qaeda,"He's simply somebody who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

After raiding three homes in Flushing, Queens early Monday morning, the FBI is apparently set for more! The Daily News provides the tip-off: "Fearful of a Madrid-style subway train bombing, authorities are poised to make more raids to seize bomb-making materials at locations in Queens, sources said Wednesday... Another source said an earlier raid uncovered nine backpacks and cell phones, raising memories of the March 2004 bombings in Madrid."

Yesterday morning, a number of homes in Flushing, Queens were raided as part of an ongoing terror investigation. Senator Chuck Schumer said, "There was nothing imminent," and described the raids as "preventive," but now the Daily News says the FBI was worried the suspects may be involved in a Denver-based terror cell. A source said, "The FBI is seriously spooked about these guys planning another 9/11. This is not some ... FBI informant-driven case. This is the real thing."

With the Justice Department's release of a report on the CIA's abuses in overseas prisons and Attorney General Eric Holder's appointment of a special prosecutor to decide whether a full criminal investigation is needed, former Vice President Dick Cheney released a statement. Cheney says having a special prosecutor look into the matter "doubts about this administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security...The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions." The AP's assessment of the released documents: "Interrogators took the simulated drowning technique of waterboarding beyond what was authorized. Mock executions were held." Specifically, "In one instance, suspect Abd al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 USS Cole ship bombing, was hooded and handcuffed and threatened with an unloaded gun and a power drill. The unidentified interrogator also threatened Nashiri's mother and family, implying that they would be sexually abused in front of him, according to the report." Cheney also said, "This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of Al Qaeda members and associates since 2002," but Newsweek wonders if the information gained was useful.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was being held in Guantanamo Bay and is accused of two 1998 bombings in Africa, is now in NYC for trial. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people." Ghailani is the first Gitmo detainee to be sent to the U.S. for trial; one of his lawyers says that Ghailani wants to keep his Pentagon-appointed defense team. Marine Col. Jeffrey Colwell, who is one of two attorneys traveling to NYC to see if they can stay on the case, told the AP, "First and foremost is what he wants. We've got a good working relationship." In a 2007 closed hearing, Ghailani said he didn't realize that he had delivered explosives used in the Tanzanian bombing, "It was without my knowledge what they were doing, but I helped them."

The Justice Department announced today that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who has been held in Guantanamo Bay and is accused of 1998 bombings in Africa, will be tried in NY. Attorney General Eric Holder said, "By prosecuting Ahmed Ghailani in federal court, we will ensure that he finally answers for his alleged role in the bombing of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. This administration is committed to keeping the American people safe and upholding the rule of law, and by closing Guantanamo and bringing terrorists housed there to justice we will make our nation stronger and safer," Ghailani, who is Tanzanian, was previously indicted in New York in 1998 for conspiring with Osama bin Laden; afterwards, he fled but was seized in 2004 and was, according to Reuters, "one of the 14 'high-value detainees' transferred to Guantanamo from secret CIA prisons in September 2006." He will be the first detainee to face a trial in civilian criminal court. In the meantime, President Obama is pressing on with his efforts to close Gitmo, though the Senate voted 90-6 against the shutdown.

Note to the NYPD: Don't let the budget cuts affect your manilla folder inventory! BBC News reports that Metropolitan police terror chief Bob Quick resigned after being photographed—as he was going to 10 Downing Street—"displaying a secret document," which was labeled "secret" and outlined "an ongoing counter-terror operation." Concerns that the operation could be compromised forced the police to conduct raids earlier than planned; 12 men were arrested. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who thanked Quick for his service, said the suspected plot was "very big... We know that there are links between terrorists in Britain and terrorists in Pakistan," and noted that the police operation was "successful." (Remember, the London subway bombings in 2005 prompted the NYPD to institute subway bag checks.) The Independent looks at other embarrassing notes caught on camera, leading with President George Bush's 2005 note, during the World Summit, to Secretary of State Rice: "I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible?"

Mayor Bloomberg's brush with a Hamas rocket yesterday made headlines in today's papers—some of which may have exaggerated just how much danger the mayor was in (the Post's headline reads that a "rocket rocks his 'boom!' town visit.") Bloomberg himself told the press, “Let’s not overstate the risks to me" and emphasized, "I feel safe here."

Want some possible terror plot with your turkey? The AP reports, "Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway system during the holiday season." This is based on an internal memo the AP got a hold of:

The FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaida terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system.

Continue reading "Report: FBI Warns About Subway Terror Plot During Holiday Season"

CNN reports that 10 Yemeni police and civilians were killed when "suspected al Qaeda insurgents disguised as security forces launched an attack on the U.S. Embassy" in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. According to the NY Times, one car drove up, and "several attackers got out...firing rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles" while a second car "drove into the compound’s gate and exploded in what appeared to be a suicide bombing." No U.S. Embassy employees were killed; earlier this year, the State Department ordered the non-emergency staff to depart the embassy but lifted the order last month. Back in 2000, Al Qaeda attacked the U.S.S. Cole, in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 American soldiers.

Even though a Sunni insurgent group claimed yesterday that two captured U.S. soldiers had been killed, one of the soldiers' mothers hoping that her son is still alive. Maria Rosario Duran spoke to reporters outside her Corona, Queens home. She said, "I can't even imagine that he's not going to return alive, that I will never see him again."

WNBC 4's Jonathan Dient reports that the feds have arrested four men plotting to blow up a jet fuel pipeline at JFK Airport today. From WNBC 4:

Four people have been charged. One is in custody in New York. Three suspects are thought to be overseas.

Continue reading "JFK Jet Fuel Pipeline Terror Plot Foiled"

Last night, parents of students who attend public schools at 345 Dean Street in Brooklyn convened for an emergency meeting with the Department of Education. The emergency was the fact that the DOE wants to move an Arabic-themed specialized school, named after the poet Khalil Gibran, into the building.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an EMT was assaulted on Hazen St. at Rikers Island, a dead body in the water off Emmons and Ocean Aves. in Brooklyn, and another dead body in the water off Manhattan's Pier 11.
• The doctor taped swearing allegiance to Al Qaeda claims that his trip to Saudi Arabia to treat injured terrorists was actually just a ruse. He wanted to go to the Middle East to find out more about polygamy, so he could convince his objecting wife to let him marry some more women.
• The doctor who testified for the defense of Peter Braunstein, asserting that the fake firefighter rapist's brain is broken, is the same expert witness who said that mobster Vincent Gigante was probably suffering from dementia. After his conviction, Gigante admitted that he'd been faking it for 20 years.
• Another person was struck by a subway train this morning, and Brooklyn-bound 3 trains were halted between 148th St. and 96th St. in Manhattan while police conducted their investigation.
• Students at the International Leadership school are learning some type of lesson, as the charter school seems to have descended into anarchy. Four of eight original teachers were fired by the school's principal this year, another three teachers quit last week, and students conducted a walkout despite the principal's attempt to lock them in the school.
• The New York State Comptroller says that the state's budget does not add up and that spending is actually growing faster than Gov. Spitzer reported. Aides to Spitzer are saying that, as the new guy, the Comptroller just doesn't know how the budget in Albany works.
• National Guard Troops will soon be deployed to patrol PATH stations in New York and New Jersey. Rather than have permanent positions, Guard soldiers will pop up at random throughought the PATH system.
• When Brooklyn bloggers aren't blogging about their borough, they're meeting and talking about blogging about Brooklyn. And by extension, we've just added blogging about Brooklyn bloggers meeting and talking about blogging.

Yesterday, six men were arrested for plotting to attack Fort Dix in NJ and other targets in the area. The men, Muslims from (the former) Yugoslavia, Turkey and Jordan, were apprehended after the FBI conducted 14 months of surveillance and infiltrated their group.

About 53 miles outside of New York City, FBI agents were working with state and local authorities to track down a group that had robbed a series of banks in central New Jersey. Yesterday afternoon, during a confrontation with the automatic weapons-carrying robbers outside a PNC Bank in Readington, NJ, an FBI agent was killed by gunfire. And it seems the gunfire was from other federal agents.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A shooting in Brooklyn, a power outage in Queens, and scaffolding that fell on the 5 tracks - subway service on the 2 and 5 is messed up!
• A Bronx man pleaded guilty to terror plotting; Tarik Shah will serve no more than 15 years for offering to teach Al Qaeda operatives "how to wage jihad with hand-to-hand combat"
• New lawsuit to stop the Atlantic Yards lawsuit, on the grounds that the Pataki administration's Environmental Impact Statement was "fatally flawed"
• A man stabbed his father while in an SUV in Midtown last night; his mother watched from the backseat
• Brooklyn Record looked at the Williamsburg jeans from the Gap, but it's questionable how Williamsburg they really are
• The Police Academy will move out of its gross East 20th Street digs to College Point, Queens, where the College Point auto pound currently resides
• The missing British teen who ran - and flew - away to NYC after an argument with his parents was found at JFK; we're intrigued how he had enough money of his own to buy a ticket (credit card, probably?)
• Gridskipper lists the top sake bars in the city; old standbys Decibel and Angel Share make it
• The pet food recall now includes dog biscuits
• And, finally, Community Board 4 approved renaming the west side of 53rd and 8th Avenue "Jerry Orbach Way"
Continue reading "Extra, Extra"

EVENT: Upstairs at the Square, the bookstores series featuring musicians and authors in conversation & performing their work, is happening tonight. This one will be featuring musician Badly Drawn Boy and author Dana Spiotta, with host Katherine Lanpher.

Think of it as a force field for New York. The Department of Homeland Security is going to spend almost $50 million on radiation detectors that will be placed in secret locations around the City. This is in response to intelligence suggesting that Al Qaeda would like to set off a nuclear or dirty bomb in this country. The detectors will be up and running later in the year, giving terrorists a nice window of opportunity before they're operational.

Gothamist reader Seth wrote in on Sunday:

Jesus of the Twin Towers, Dyker Heights by gkjarvis.

After a day of the world could not afford to take. The world is safer because Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. And now the challenge is to help the Iraqi people build a democracy that fulfills the dreams of the nearly 12 million Iraqis who came out to vote in free elections last December.

Yesterday, the NYPD's counterterrorism head Richard Falkenrath said that the city is still viewed as "a prime target for another terrorist strike." The AP reports that Falkenrath was briefing security executives in prepartion for the UN General Assembly. And what do you know, a Al Jazeera airs a tape of Osama bin Laden and some September 11 hijackers (well, supposedly September 11 hijackers - their faces are masked). While the President sought to point out that Al Qaeda is not as strong as it used to and that it's still important to capture bin Laden, some wonder if the tape was released by new Al Qaeda head Abu Hamza al-Muhajer. As Middle East expert Marwan Shehadeh tells the times, “They released the videotape to prove to the Americans that their strategy in the war against terror has failed.”